I recently ordered a copy of The Four Year Career by Richard Bliss Brooke, at the suggestion of a close friend and personal mentor. Believe it or not, I had never even heard of the book before that.
Since I respect my friend so well, I followed his advice and ordered the book (valuable lesson there). When I received it in the mail I devoured it in one day and really enjoyed it.
The book is authored by Richard Bliss Brooke. It is currently in its fourth edition. It is copyrighted 2013 and features 99-pages. Here are some of the lessons the book covers:
- A Four Year Career vs. A Forty Year Career?
- Why Network Marketing?
- Network Marketing Myths
- Traditional Sales vs. Network Marketing
- How it Works
- Four Cornerstones of the Four Year Career
- The Asset Value
- Momentum
- The Renaissance of the Family and Community
- What to Look for in a Network Marketing Company
It also features 13 different success stories of different six and seven figure earners from different MLM Companies (these stories are really good). I think these stories are the best part of the book!
Richard Bliss Brooke Quotes from The Four Year Career
What I want to do now is share some of my favorite quotes from the book. Each quote is in bold and italics. After each quote I will share my own thoughts about it.
1. Life is not fair if you define fairness as everyone wins.
We live in free society where there are winners and losers. The only thing we are all guaranteed in life is an opportunity to do something with our life. Whether we succeed or fail with that opportunity is completely up to us. Some people will win and some people will lose.That’s the entire foundation of capitalism.
What I love about network marketing is the equal opportunity. There are no favorites. You don’t need a certain type of degree. There are no office politics. There is no discrimination. Anyone CAN succeed, although not everyone will.
2. The asset value of your network marketing income will be approximately 200 times your monthly income.
Your network marketing business really is an asset. It has an equity value. If your network marketing business earns you $5,000 per month, that is the equivalent of having an asset worth $1 million. That doesn’t mean you could SELL your business for $1 million. It just means that is the equity value.
Let me give you a few other examples to put things in perspective.
If your MLM Income is $12k per year, that’s the equivalent asset value of having $400k in the bank at 3% interest. If your MLM Income is just $36k per year, that’s the equivalent asset value of having $1.2 million in the bank at 3% interest.
I’m not sure if you can even find 3% interest in today’s world, but this example shows you the power of residual income. Most people will NEVER save $400,000, let alone $1.2 million in their lifetime, but I believe anyone can build up a $36k annual MLM Residual Income within two to three years. That’s the power of network marketing.
3. You can create enough tax deductions alone each year to make it worthwhile.
The tax code in the United States is designed for entrepreneurs. As a network marketer you get the same tax deductions that a traditional business owner has.
Employees don’t get this type of tax incentive, so it would be in your best interest to have a part-time network marketing business, just for the tax savings alone (of course you still need to treat it like a real business).
Most families will save at least a few thousand dollars per year, every year, just by owning their own home-based business. Even if you decide network marketing is not for you, make sure you get your own home-based business.
4. Most restaurants fail. Most dry cleaners fail. Most companies we went to work for just out of college or high school have already failed. It is the nature of free markets and enterprise. There are winners and losers in a free market society.
Look around any town in America and you will see that most businesses come and go. Drive through your own town and see how many vacant buildings and closed down businesses you can find. Nearly 9 out of every 10 businesses fail in the first five years.
More importantly, these owners have invested tens of thousands of dollars, if not significantly more, and thousands and thousands of hours of their own time, yet they still failed.
Network marketing can outperform almost ANY type of traditional business, yet it doesn’t have the financial risk that a traditional business has, AND you can do it part-time as a side hustle.
Succeeding or failing in MLM is no different than any other type of business. Just because most people fail in our industry doesn’t make it a bad opportunity.
5. The average network marketer never creates enough success to warrant doing anything beyond buying product at wholesale.
Most people who join our industry never take their business seriously enough to earn any type of significant money with it. Most people don’t make their business a priority and they don’t treat their network marketing business like a real business.
Because of the low cost of entry, it’s easy to put the business on the back burner when life gets in the way. My best advice to anyone who wants to succeed in this industry is to act AS IF they have one million dollars invested in their business.
6. People with average ambition, commitment and effort usually don’t do well in a business like network marketing.
Like anything in life, the people with the vision, the discipline and the perseverance are the ones who make it to the top, even in network marketing. Study any sales company and you will see that a select few earn a lion’s share of the commissions.
To succeed in any type of sales endeavor you need self-motivation, desire, discipline and skills. The average person does not have any of these things when they first join the industry. Fortunately, these skills can be developed, if you are willing to invest the time, money and energy to do so.
7. To be successful, one must have a high level of personal confidence, love talking to people, be comfortable creating new relationships every day, be coachable and most importantly be a proud ambassador of the network marketing profession.
People want to do business with professionals, not amateurs. People want to work with people they like, know and trust. People want to do business with people who know who they are and whey they are headed in life.
Let me give you an example to put things in perspective. If you were going to sell your home today, would you give the listing to the brand new agent in the realtor’s office who has never sold a home, or would you seek out the top agent in the office? I know what I would do. I would seek out the top agent.
Make a commitment to be a network marketing professional. Humble yourself enough to follow the advice of your successful mentors. Do what you can to improve every single day. Study the industry and learn everything you can about it. Work on your personal development daily.
8. The fact is that the people who are already successful in whatever they do tend to also succeed in network marketing.
When you are out looking for people to sponsor, look for people who are confident and successful and don’t NEED the money. If people need the opportunity, chances are they won’t do it.
Successful people are almost always looking for new income streams and are normally open minded. Your best prospects are people who are already successful, are respected by their peers, have a large sphere of influence, and some disposable income!
Whenever possible, recruit up. Look for people at your level of success and motivation and higher.
9. In network marketing the people who attract, train and motivate the most salespeople earn the most money.
You get paid to produce results. You get paid to build large teams of customers and distributors who use the products and share the products and business opportunity with others.
You don’t get paid to think about the business. Your income is tied directly to how many customers you can acquire and how big of a team you can build. The only money producing activities in this business are prospecting, showing the plan, following up, getting customers and training your team. Everything else is busy work!
10. In the beginning you will exert the most amount of effort promoting the product and enrolling new people for the least amount of return.
It takes time to build a large and profitable business of any kind. Work hard in the beginning and you won’t even earn a minimum wage, but as you grow your team, your income will far surpass your efforts. This holds true in every type of business. It takes time to build a successful business, normally several years.
My Analysis of the Book
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. One thing I liked about The Four Year Career is that it is a customizable book. You can have the success stories from the top earners in your company added to the book, so it can be a recruiting tool for your specific company.
Some people might be put off because the book is really short. It might be short, but I believe the content is good and spot on. I didn’t find any life changing content in the book, but he does reinforce many valuable lessons I have learned throughout my network marketing career.
I give the book 4 of 5 stars and think it would be wise for any serious network marketer to add it to their personal library. As a prospecting tool, I give it a 10 of 10. If you can get your prospect to read the book, there’s a good chance they will get involved with your opportunity.
About Richard Bliss Brooke
Richard Bliss Brooke is a legend in our industry. He joined the network marketing industry at the age of 22, while working at a chicken farm. By age 28 he was earning $40k per month from his business and since then he has earned MILLIONS in the industry.
He’s authored several books on network marketing and he often works as a consultant, speaker and trainer in our industry. He is now a distributor in Young Living Essential Oils, a popular health and wellness MLM Company specializing in essential oils.
Final Thoughts
There you have it folks. I hope you have enjoyed my favorite Richard Bliss Brooke quotes from The Four Year Career. If you’ve read the book before, what are your thoughts? Did you like the book? Why or why not? Leave a comment below to let us know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
Disclaimer: The Four Year Career is a registered trademark, owned by Richard Bliss Brooke. All views in this article are simply my opinion.
Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
P.S. Learn how to grow a successful network marketing business. Secret tips, training, and practical ideas. Free training delivered by email.
One thing that sold me on this book right off the back is it being short. Some books are so long and drawn out that they become boring. From what I see, this book gets straight to the point.
I want to offer my part in some of these quotes.
1: There is nothing at all in life that is fair. What is fair to one will be unfair to another. My idea is play the game to your utmost and make your chances of winning the unfair game as good as possible.
3: Tax deductions can be a huge opportunity. Many do not realize this. Talk to any multi-millionaire and they will tell you to find deductions. Some even invest in what they know will be losers just for the deductions.
7: I am in total agreement. If you don’t have these qualities, you should either learn them or stay with your job at the local Walmart or other 8-5.
All the other quotes are great too.
Thanks for the review.
Good insights, Greg.