I am a huge fan of Art Jonak. He is a legend in the network marketing industry and he’s a great guy. I’ve never been part of this team or worked with him in real life, but I have studied his training materials for many years. Simply put, I have tremendous respect for Art.
What I want to do in today’s post is share some of my favorite Art Jonak quotes from the book The Ultimate Guide to Network Marketing. Art shared some insightful tips in the book. It’s a book by Joe Rubino with a compilation of short stories and lessons from successful network marketing distributors.
These are my top 10 Art Jonak quotes from the book, listed in no particular order. Each quote is in bold and italics. After each quote I share my own thoughts about it.
Top 10 Art Jonak Quotes
# 1: A healthy organization should grow one, two, three or more levels deep down each organization leg each month.
Your ultimate objective as a leader is to build depth in your team. You want to drive each leg of your group as deep as you can. This gives you long-term security and stability in your organization. Some people call this tap-rooting. The deeper you go the more secure the leg and the more volume and leaders you will develop in your organization. To make this happen, always work with the newest, most excited distributor in each leg of your organization.
# 2: You want an organization that grows without you, that doesn’t even need you, one that doesn’t even know who you are!
If your business relies on you and you alone you are doomed for failure, right from the beginning. What you want is your business to be system dependent not people dependent. If everything relies on you, the business will take over your life and you won’t even be able to take time off. You want to teach people to help themselves. You want a system everyone can follow. You want to empower your leaders to lead their own teams, rather than everyone coming to you with their questions.
# 3: Every network marketing organization should have a standard method of operation by which they sponsor, train, and duplicate.
You need a step by step system for generating leads, sponsoring reps and finding new customers. You should have a standard getting started training (a video or guide). You should also have weekly training webinars or conference calls. Yes, each person might put their own twist on things, but you do need a simple system for everyone to follow, especially the new people.
# 4: As your sponsor, I’m not here to work for you. Instead, I’m here to work with you, to teach you the skills necessary to build a large, successful network marketing organization.
Your job is to transfer your knowledge to your team members as quickly as possible, so they become independent of you as quickly as possible. You do not have to be at the beck and call of your team members, although you should provide some direction when asked.
# 5: It’s hard to build momentum on your team if you change systems every few weeks, or even every few months.
Create a system and stick with it for the long haul. Don’t deviate from it. By all means, if some of your team members want to try different ways to build their business, that’s perfectly fine. Your job as the leader is to teach one system, so you eliminate confusion and keep the business simple.
# 6: How many times today was the story of the opportunity and product told on your behalf by you, by our team, or by an event?
What you ultimately want are hundreds, even thousands of presentations being made in your group every single day. It really boils down to a lot of people each doing a little bit. Duplication is the key to success in our industry.
# 7: It’s much easier to teach a distributor to point to third-party tools than it is to have them memorize a full presentation.
Use third party tools whenever possible. Be the messenger, not the message. Keep things simple so even the newest distributor can do it. Teach your people NOT to do their own presentations. Instead, teach them how to share a video, a recorded call, or even direct people to a webinar.
# 8: Resist the tendency to become an expert.
Don’t think you need to be an expert on the business or the products before you can share it with others. Your goal is to simply share your story with as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. If you wait until you are an expert you will never get started.
# 9: You want to create one method of operation and stick with it for a long period of time.
Create a system and stick with it. Don’t keep changing what you are doing. Unify your team so people don’t get confused or overwhelmed.
# 10: As a leader you are like a procession leader for your team.
People will follow your lead, just as if you were a bandmaster. Make sure that you set a good example for other people to follow. The speed of the leader is the speed of the team. Do the things you want your team to do. Be the type of sponsor you wish you had. Be the type of person you want to sponsor.
About Art
Art Jonak is the author of The One-Minute Sponsoring Tips for Network Marketers newsletter. He’s also been featured in The Wave 4 Way to Building Your Downline. He’s also certified by the University of Illinois as a network marketing professional. And, he is co-founder of the Mastermind Event.
Final Thoughts
In summary, I have tremendous respect for Art Jonak, even though I have never met him in real life. He is a true network marketing professional and advocate to our great industry. I hope you’ve enjoyed the article.
Please leave a comment below to tell me your favorite Art Jonak quote in this post. In addition, if you have ever worked with Art Jonak personally, leave a comment below to tell me about the experience. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great day.

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.
I learned a lot from this post. Art Jonak has a good knack of teaching. The one that really took me by surprise is #8 Resist the temptation to become an expert. I always thought that we should try to become experts. It does make sense though because if we spend so much time trying to become an expert, our business will suffer.
I also read some of the material Art said at the Mastermind Event, and he is a wise person who we can all learn from.
Yeah, I am a big fan of Art Jonak as well!
Oh I do agree that your business should be able to grow without you. This speaks to the idea that you need to ensure you have the right people in place who can make that happen. If you have a bunch of slackers who are doing the bare minimum, then you are going to have to do a lot of extra work on your own in order to see growth. Yet, if you have a few solid, focused, and committed people in place you can be doing the bare minimum (though you hopefully aren’t) and you’ll still see massive results.
If you have good training and good systems, you should be able to replace yourself very quickly.
My favorite quote is # 6. Goes to show that, it’s all about how much effort you put in. No matter how smart your strategy is or how intelligent you are. No presentations – no customers, no downlines, and no money. It’s simple as that.
I also like quote # 8 “Resist the tendency to become an expert.” This takes the pressure off of you, you don’t have to be a know-it-all, just focus on helping others.
Thanks for sharing!
If you don’t do the work, you don’t get paid. PERIOD.