My Top MLM Mentors of All Time

Today, I want to share my top MLM mentors of all time.

As of September 2020, I’ve been involved in the network marketing industry for slightly more than 18-years. For the first 13-years, I dabbled. For the past 5-years I’ve been a network marketing professional.

Through the years, I’ve been very blessed to have some incredible MLM Mentors. To be quite frank with you, I’ve only personally met one person on this list. The rest of these mentors I learned from their books, videos, blogs, and training materials.

I have learned many things from my MLM Mentors. I’ve learned about confidence, business, communication, leadership, finances, direct mail, sponsoring secrets, advertising, perseverance, marketing, building depth, attitude, and so much more. I’ve been fortunate to take these skills and build a successful business of my own.

I’d also like to add that I don’t agree with EVERYTHING each one of these people teaches. Instead, I just take bits and pieces from each person and apply what makes sense to me.

My Top MLM Mentors of All Time

What I’d like to do below is share the names of some of my MLM Mentors with you, and tell you what I learned from them, so you can learn more about them, and see if they can help you grow your own business. They are listed in alphabetical order (by first name).

# 1: Bill Britt

During my 2.5 years in Amway, I really admired Bill Britt. I wasn’t part of his organization, but I really looked up to him. I listened to many of his tapes and CDs. To me, he was a man’s man. He called it like it is. He was a very passionate guy and well spoken. Some of the most important lessons he taught me were:

• It’s not the size of he dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that matters most
• Be mentally tough
• You have to sponsor a lot of people to find a few key people
• You need a system others can follow
• The power of personal development
• The power of association
• The importance of goal setting

Bill recently passed away, but his legacy continues!

# 2: Dale Calvert

Dale Calvert is a highly respected author, network marketing professional, and trainer. His “no fluff” teaching style really resonates with me. Some of the most important lessons I learned from Dale include:

• You must develop the right skills and right mindset if you want to succeed
• Most top earners make most of their money from just 2-3 legs
• Focus on building depth, not width
• Start locally and expand globally
• Retail to recruit

# 3: Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is not a network marketer. But he is the KING of direct response marketing. Everything I know about marketing I learned from Dan Kennedy. He taught me:

• The two-step selling process
• How to be the welcomed guest not the uninvited pest
• How to generate leads and sell
• How to get prospects to contact me first

I own all of his books and study everything this guy publishes (you should too!).

# 4: Don Failla

If you’ve never heard of Don Failla, you are way behind the power curve. This guy has built up a team of more than one million distributors. His book “The 45 Second Presentation” is a must read for any network marketer. Don taught me:

• It takes time to build your foundation
• Good salespeople rarely succeed in our industry because others can’t duplicate what they do
• Work in depth
• Our job is to teach people to teach people to teach people
• You aren’t duplicated unless you are three levels deep

Don has been successful in our industry for nearly 60-years now!

# 5: Eric Worre

If you’ve spent any time in our industry you’ve probably heard of Eric Worre before. He is the founder of Network Marketing Pro and author of Go Pro. He’s done more to help our industry, in my opinion, than anyone else on this list. The most valuable lessons I learned from him are:

• Be a network marketing professional
• Treat this business like a profession
• Be a student of your business and the industry

Eric has hundreds of great videos on YouTube where he interviews seven figure earners in our industry. I highly recommend you watch all of his videos.

# 6: Jordan Adler

I have an incredible amount of respect for Jordan Adler. He is the top earner in Send Out Cards and he is the author of the book “Beach Money.” If you haven’t read that book, order it! He taught me:

• It’s not how you start, but how you finish that matters
• Your job is to sponsor 2-4 new people every month
• You can’t make anyone else successful
• Don’t try to manage your team
• Pick one good company and stick with it

It’s important to know that Jordan failed in network marketing for his first ten years in the industry! He didn’t sponsor one person during that time, but he has went on to earn tens of millions of dollars in our industry.

# 7: Mark Yarnell

Mark Yarnell is my # 1 mentor of all time. He is a legend in our industry! Mark built a team of more than 300K distributors with Nu Skin Enterprises. Some of the most valuable lessons he taught me were:

• Go wide fast
• Every great network marketer was a lousy network marketer at first
• Don’t babysit people
• Innovate rather than duplicate
• No two top earners build their business exactly alike

His book Your Best Year in Network Marketing is one of my favorite network marketing books of all time. Mark is now deceased, but his legacy lives on.

# 8: Michael Gerber

Michael Gerber is a world-renowned business coach, author, consultant and speaker. To the best of my knowledge, he has no affiliation with network marketing. However, the lessons he teaches would be VERY beneficial to any network marketer. He taught me:

• The importance of systems
• Work on your business rather than work in your business
• The four mindsets entrepreneurs have

If you haven’t read a copy of his book “The E-Myth Revisited” you should.

# 9: Mike Dillard

Who hasn’t heard of Mike Dillard? I ordered Magnetic Sponsoring back in 2009 and that book totally changed my life and business for the better. Mike taught me the following things:

• Why people buy
• Self-liquidating offers
• The funded proposal
• Multiple streams of income
• How to brand yourself
• Attraction Marketing

His training courses are top-notch.

# 10: Mike Popovich

Mike Popovich was my first network marketing mentor when I was new to the industry. During my few years in Amway he was my upline Diamond distributor. Mike taught me:

• The value of sticking with one business for the long haul
• The importance of tools and systems
• The power of personal development
• The importance of reading
• The importance of being plugged in
• The power of association

Mike was a successful distributor in Amway for approximately 20-years. He is now a Managing Partner with Trunited.

# 11: Ray Higdon

Ray is a popular blogger specializing in the network marketing industry. At one point in time he was a rep, but now he just does consulting and training. Ray taught me:

• Blogging
• How to brand myself
• How to position myself as a leader
• How to use social media to grow my business
• Scripts for contacting prospects

Ray is one of the ‘good guys’ in our industry.

# 12: Robert G. Allen

Robert Allen is the author of Multiple Streams of Income one of the most important books I’ve ever read.  At one time, he was also a very successful distributor with USANA, and he is now a top earner in another company. Robert taught me:

• The importance of multiple streams of income
• How to make money writing books, eBooks, and reports
• The power of email marketing
• To build my own email list

I recommend you check out his books and training.

# 13: Robert Blackman

I’ve learned a lot from Robert Blackman. He is sometimes referred to as The Postcard Guy. Robert taught me:

• The picks and shovels business
• How to grow your business via direct mail

I love watching Robert’s videos.

# 14: Tom Big Al Schreiter

Big Al is a legend in the network marketing industry. To the best of my knowledge he’s been involved in the industry nearly five decades now! That’s impressive in and of itself. Big Al is a distributor, author of many books, consultant, and trainer. Some of the valuable lessons I learned from him include

• The importance of having a sense of humor in the business
• The art of storytelling
• The Four “Color” Personalities
• Icebreakers

Big Al is a funny guy and his books are a great read.

You Need MLM Mentors

Before I close out this article, I want you to know a few things. First and foremost, if you are serious about your MLM Business, you need to find several MLM Mentors. It really is non-negotiable.

A good mentor will hold you accountable, encourage you, and help you work through your challenges, so you can be successful.

Best of all, you don’t even have to PERSONALLY work with your mentor (although you should have a few that you do). You can read books, buy courses, and watch videos and learn a lot of information that way (that’s what I did).

The bottom line is that ALL successful people have mentors and coaches to help them. If you are just starting out in network marketing, I encourage you to find a mentor or two in your upline and also to find several mentors OUTSIDE of your organization.

The best way to do that is to visit your local library or bookstore and READ. I also suggest you join Mastermind Teams and listen to conference calls and webinars. You should also attend training events and find a few blogs (like this one) that you can visit often and learn new ideas.

Final Thoughts

What are your thoughts about my list of MLM Mentors? Who is your favorite person on my list? Who is your MLM Mentor? Who has helped you the most in your network marketing business? Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Chuck Holmes
Network Marketing Professional (21+ years)
Top Recruiter & Top Rep
mrchuckholmes@gmail.com

Suggested Resources

1. Best Places to Advertise Your Business
2. Suggested MLM Tools & Resources
3. My Primary Business
4. Recommended Training, Links & About Me