Top 101 Brian Carruthers Quotes from Building an Empire

In today’s post, I am going to share my top 101 Brian Carruthers quotes from his best-selling book, Building an Empire.

Let me begin by telling you that Brian Carruthers is one of the good guys in our industry. Even though I have never met him in real life, nor am I in the same company that he is, I have tremendous respect for him.

Not only has he achieved monumental success in our industry, but he is also a class act guy.

He tells it like it is and calls a spade a spade. Not only is he successful, he’s also an ambassador to the industry.  He helps many people from many different companies and he is a great role model for others to follow.

More importantly, Brian Carruthers is not your typical trainer. He’s a Field Marshall. He’s still in the trenches, retailing and recruiting, building his team, every single day. That is what I respect most about him.

His book Building an Empire is incredible. I give it a 10 of 10. It has so much great information in it that would benefit any network marketer, whether they are brand new or are a 20-year veteran of the industry.

What I am going to do below is share some of my personal favorite Brian Carruthers quotes from the book.  Each quote is in bold and italics. After each quote, I will share my own two cents on it.  Enjoy.

Top 101 Brian Carruthers Quotes

# 1: It’s the people we meet and the books we read that make us who we are.

If you want to improve your life, you must improve yourself. Read books that inspire you and help you grow as a person. Also, make sure you hang around people who encourage you and uplift you and bring out the best in you. Choose your friends and mentors wisely.

# 2: … we cannot let our reasons to do the business become our excuse not to.

Most people join the business because they want to create financial independence for their family, yet they use their family as an excuse as to why they are too busy or don’t have the time to build the business.

# 3: If you can change your mind you can change your bank account.

Thoughts are things. For our life to change, we must change. If you keep doing what you’ve always done you will keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

# 4: The more value you deliver the more money you earn.

We get paid based upon the value we bring to the marketplace. For you to make more money you must deliver more value.

# 5: There are many skeptical people who are stuck, close-minded and would rather continue living stressed out, check to check, rather than venturing into something new.

People are funny. They will bitch and complain about their situation in life, yet they won’t do anything to change it or improve it. Have you ever known someone like that?

# 6: The best revenge is massive success.

All successful people have haters, and they HAD haters while they were on their journey to becoming successful. If you don’t have haters you aren’t doing much with your life. The best thing you can do is prove people wrong and go for your dreams. When you make it big, your haters will ask if you are hiring!

# 7: If your WHY is strong enough, you will stick around long enough and endure all that you must to learn how to succeed.

You need a why that makes you cry. Otherwise, you will quit when things get tough. Building a successful business of any kind is really hard work, so you need something that motivates you and keeps you inspired during the tough times.

# 8: Everyone who is very successful and living at the mountaintop has paid a hefty price to get there.

There are no secrets or shortcuts. You must put in the work consistently and stay the course until you reach your dreams and goals. No one will give it to you. You must fight to get what you want in life.

# 9: Search upline until you find the right person to follow.

If you reach out to enough people in your upline you will find someone who knows what they are doing and is willing to help you. Start with your sponsor and look upline until you find the right person. If you have trouble finding someone, call the company to get the names of people in your upline.

# 10: People love to try to build this business their own way.

I’ve been guilty of doing this myself in the past. You need a system for your team, something everyone can follow. Don’t be a lone wolf. By all means, leverage some of your own natural talents and abilities, but make sure you also follow and promote the team’s system.

# 11: Say less to more people, and take the focus off of you.

I love this quote. Keep your message short and simple. Be the messenger, not the message.

# 12: The only person you can control is you.

Focus on your personal production and don’t worry about what others do or don’t do. You can’t control what others do, so why worry about it?

# 13: And the important fact to note is that this business is way easier and more effective to build fast than slow.

Get excited and get to work right now. Take massive action and create momentum in your business. That’s a lot easier than being slow and steady.

# 14: What you do duplicates.

Make sure you are setting a good example for everyone on your team to follow. Would you want 100 people on your team to do exactly what you are doing? If not, make the necessary adjustments.

# 15: Momentum is hard to get, and easy to lose.

I’ve had and lost momentum several times in my own team. It takes a lot of work to get it going, and it can fall apart instantly. Ride the wave when you get it by doubling or tripling your efforts.

# 16: The biggest key to success in network marketing is committing 100 percent to the system.

Follow the system and commit to the system. The system trumps everything else.

# 17: You do not want your team to rely solely on you, as the full weight of that will crush you.

If everyone on your team depends on you for motivation and help, the business sucks. Ultimately, you want everything to depend on the system, not you.

# 18: People want to follow someone who knows where they are going, and is inspiring to be around.

People want to follow a leader! Be someone worth following. Be the type of person you want to sponsor and be the type of sponsor you wish you had.

# 19: Have a relaxed intensity.

Be serious, hardworking and committed, but be calm, cool and collected.

# 20: Poor people get leveraged. Rich people use leverage.

You either have leverage yourself or you are being leveraged by someone else.

# 21: What I have found is that most people fail in their network marketing business because they are not coachable.

Find someone in your upline who has achieved what you are trying to achieve in the business, and humble yourself enough to take their advice and follow their lead.

# 22: What good is it to be recruiting people into your business if they are not inspired, trained and producing?

It makes no sense to recruit losers, deadbeats, and duds. Focus on quality people!

# 23: Don’t do what works… do what duplicates!

Follow a system that is proven and works. Teach that system to your team.

# 24: The focus must be taken off the recruiter and placed onto a third-party tool or system.

Remove yourself from the equation and use third party tools whenever possible. Keep it so simple anyone can do it. Ideally, you want your prospects to think “if they can do it I will crush this thing!”

# 25: The magic growth happens when you get a large number of people, doing a few simple things consistently over an extended period of time.

Success in our industry boils down to having lots of people consistently do a little bit each month.

# 26: I learned that the top earners in network marketing were all recruiting focused.

Never, ever stop recruiting personally. Most top earners have recruited minimum 100 to 500 people personally.

# 27: You cannot recruit someone whom you have not approached.

You won’t make the sale if you don’t ask for it, and you won’t sign someone up until you show them the plan and ask them to join.

# 28: I don’t convince, but I do follow up until they sign up – pleasantly and tactfully.

There is no need to beg or convince people, but keep following up until they give you a definite yes or no decision.

# 29: Only work with those who have the three mandatory ingredients for success – Burning Desire, Coachable, and willing to work. What you fill find is that 80 percent will join and do absolutely nothing.

Spend your time where it is deserved, not needed. Don’t get sucked into the trap of wanting success more for people than they want it for themselves. Work with the willing and set a good example. Don’t waste your time trying to drag people across the finish line.

# 30: Recruit 100 to find 20 who will do something, and maybe one out of the 20 will strive to become a star in the business.

This is my favorite quote in the book. This just shows you how few people who get involved are serious about the business. Although most people are not serious, a few serious people will make you a lot of money.

# 31: People join for the money, but they stay for the relationships.

Create a team culture that people want to be part of, even if they decide to stop doing the business.

# 32: If you choose to treat it as a little home based program that you meddle with, it will not succeed.

Act as if you have one million dollars invested in your business. Treat it like a business and it will pay you like one. Treat it like a hobby and you will lose money. Why? Hobbies cost money!

# 33: Recruiting is a game of numbers.

This always has been and always will be a numbers game. You have to work the numbers to find people to join your team, and you have to sponsor a lot of people to find a few serious people.

# 34: You don’t recruit to… you recruit through.

Who you sign up doesn’t really matter all that much. What really matters most is who they know and how quickly you can tap into your new recruit’s warm market.

# 35: If they have to be convinced to join, you will have to convince them to work it and, chances are, they will likely not be coachable and follow the system. So just say NEXT!

You are looking for self-motivated people, not people you mus motivate or babysit. If you have to convince someone to join the business, you will have to convince them to get on auto-ship, get plugged in, and get to work.

# 36: The name of the game is contacting new prospects and inviting them to presentations.

If you aren’t contacting new prospects every day, your business will not grow. Never let a day go by where you don’t reach out to at least two to five new prospects.

# 37: Most people do not recruit up… they recruit down.

Recruit people at your level of success and motivation and above. Look for people who are already successful in life, have a good attitude, and a large sphere of influence. These are the folks who typically do well in the business.

# 38: Always be working on your self-confidence and posture.

Invest in your business education and personal development. Improve daily.

# 39: We build the business from event to event.

Promote events. Attend all events yourself. This is an event driven business.

# 40: The point here is that you should work your warm market first, not find excuses to avoid it.

This a warm market business. Start with your warm market and teach your new recruits to do the same thing. Don’t venture into the cold market until you have exhausted your warm market.

# 41: After all, who would you rather try to recruit – the sharpest people on your recruit’s top 10 list or 10 complete strangers on the street whose quality you know nothing about?

When you sign someone up in the business, immediately get a list of their best 10 prospects. This is much wiser than just approaching ten new strangers yourself.

# 42: You are one recruit away from a financial explosion in your business.

One good recruit really can make you a MLM Millionaire.

# 43: If you realize that every recruit represents 100 leads, you simply need to start with your next recruit and properly work with them to share your company’s message. 

Every new person on your team is your best source for new leads.

# 44: If you don’t work their list with them, then recruiting them was basically like you buying a lottery ticket hoping to get lucky… and watch them go make you money on their own.

If you don’t help your new team members get started right, you will have a revolving door in your business.

# 45: Nobody wants to be sponsored by a dud.

People want to work with someone who is serious, committed, and successful. Be that person and you will attract the right people into your business.

# 46: We are in the people attraction business.

Be someone worth joining. Work on your skills. Improve daily and be a person of value so people want to join you and work with you.

# 47: I believe that social media is a means of connection, not so much for advertising.

Use social media as a way to meet new prospects and then take that relationship offline as quickly as possible.

# 48: People will work for money, but will die for recognition.

Don’t forget to recognize people on your team, even for the little things they do. People crave recognition. Babies cry for it and grown men die for it!

# 49: Do not let yourself get sucked into your phone or computer screen and think that you are building an empire.  Yes, social media is a great tool. But it will never replace personal conversations in person or by phone.

The only activities that matter are retailing and recruiting. Everything else is a time suck. Don’t confuse busy work with being productive. Stay focused on the income producing activities.

# 50: Would you rather have 20 people on your frontline earning $500 a month, or have 4 people on your frontline making $5,000 each.

Build depth and help your good people get paid!

# 51: The wider you go, the more you will have to worry about people not having momentum and support and quitting on you.

Width might give you immediate profitability, but depth gives you long term security. Depth is where the BIG MONEY comes from.

# 52: You don’t want to build yourself a job where you are always stressed out trying to keep everyone from quitting because they are barely making any money. This is why when you build deep under people, fear of loss is employed and it keeps the entire upline in the game.

You can only lead and mentor so many people at a time. Your job is to build and find other leaders who can manage their own armies without your help.

# 53: A leader is not a solid leader until he has two more leaders under him.

The more leaders you have in a leg the better. If there is only one leader in a leg, it could crumble at any time.

# 54: The deeper the action, the more people it will motivate.

Light a fire in the basement and watch the heat rise.

# 55: Every dud knows a stud.

Every time you meet someone new ask them the following question: “Who is the sharpest person you know?”

# 56: I do not get excited about that recruit, but rather all of the vast resources of prospects they can lead me to. One person does not move your business results, but a leader you can sell and recruit large numbers through does.

Everyone knows a winner. When you recruit followers you add people to your team. When you recruit leaders you multiply your team. However, even a dud can lead you to a stud!

# 57: The most common reason most people do not succeed in building a large team or business is their lack of urgency.

Get excited about your business and get to work. It’s easier and smarter to start fast than start slow.

# 58: People are motivated by the potential for gain, and even more so by the fear of loss of possible profits they would miss out on forever.

Give people something to lose and they will move heavens and earth to keep it. Show them what they have to gain and there is a good chance they will do nothing.

# 59: I prospect people to see if I will let them into my business.  This projects a posture of strength and confidence.

Be confident in what you have to offer people. If you come across as desperate no one will want to work with you. Interview people as if you were hiring them for a job.

# 60: If you are not talking to a prospect (yours or your teams) to bring them to a decision, you are not making money.

Always be in production mode. Talk with new people every day and follow up with people constantly. Don’t forget to ask people to buy or join. Most people won’t do it on their own if you don’t ask.

# 61: The last thing you want your recruit to do is have their only association with the company be with you.

Introduce your prospects and new team members to other people in the company. Let them meet a variety of people. This will benefit your business. After all, not everyone on your team will resonate with your personality or leadership style.

# 62: Remember that people are less likely to quit on a team than they will on themselves.

People want to belong to something greater than themselves. Always promote the team and talk about the importance of the team.

# 63: You will quickly kill off any team you build if they sense that your mission is to recruit some people and then sit back and wait for them to start making you money.

Always lead from the front, offer your help to new recruits and never stop your personal recruiting. Your team is always watching you.

# 64: I never let anyone feel like they were outworking me.

Do the things you want your team to do. Always stay in production mode.

# 65: If my presence with you is required to succeed, that would mean you will never be able to sponsor someone out of state and help them succeed.

You don’t want to sponsor people who are dependent on you. You want people who are independent of you.

# 66: A local sponsor can only teach you how to sponsor locally.

This is why I would much rather have a long distance sponsor.

# 67: Sometimes having a great upline, especially locally, causes most people to never need to become great leaders… so they don’t have to.

When you do everything for people on your team for them, they have no reason to step into a leadership role.

# 68: From the moment you recruit someone, the race is on. Those first seven days are critical!

Most people will mentally quit within 7-days or less if they aren’t making money.

# 69: To build your downline, all you need to do is help your people recruit their contacts.

Work in depth. Always work with the newest, most excited distributor at the deepest level in your organization.

# 70: Mangers see it as their task to get others to do what the company wants them to do. Leaders get people to want to do (themselves) whatever the company is wanting.

Managers direct, whereas leaders inspire. Rather than tell your team what to do, show them what they should be doing by your own personal example.

# 71: A good leader can get people to want to hit their goals for their own reasons, not for the leader or for the company.

Find out what your team members want to achieve with the business and help them achieve it. Don’t expect people to have the same goals you do. Many people would be happy with an extra $100 to $1,000 per month. Not everyone is here to make the big bucks.

# 72: You must focus on building people instead of getting sales.

This is a people business. Build the people and the people will build the business.

# 73: And the ultimate success is to have many people under you who out earn you, and get more recognition than you.

My dream is to have hundreds of people on my team who make more money than I do and get more recognition than I do.

# 74: Not only do you want to praise the success; you also want to praise progress.

Find as many ways as possible to recognize people. People will do more for recognition than they will for money.

# 75: It takes a good recruiter to bring people into the business. But it takes a great leader to assemble these people into working together as a team.

This is what separates the top recruiters and the top earners in our industry. Anyone can recruit people, but if you can’t get your people to produce, you are nothing more than a glorified, underpaid salesperson.

# 76: It gets very lonely if you are not on a team.

Take care of your team. Surround yourself with other winners and create a strong team culture where people want to stick around, even if they decide to stop building their business.

# 77: If you make everyone feel special, important and respected, you might just be surprised that some might suddenly become your top producers.

Every person in your team is important. This includes customers, hobbyists, part-timers and full-timers. Make sure everyone feels appreciated and important IF you want them to stay.

# 78: Players on your team will quit after you have poured months or years of time and energy into them.

Not everyone will stay. Some of the people you sponsor will quit, even after you’ve worked hard to help them build a team. Do not take it personal. Accept it and be prepared for it. Not everyone is meant to be with you on your journey to success.

# 79: I remind myself daily that there are countless millionaires living their dream lives because they built their network marketing business and didn’t quit.

Do the work and never quit and there is a high likelihood you will eventually make it to the top in our industry.

# 80: I do not let losers and quitters suck me into their camp. I remain a warrior.

Don’t let negative people bring you down. Sometimes the people who are closest to you will be your biggest critics, naysayers and haters. When you first get started they criticize you. When you succeed they call you lucky. When you make it big they ask if you are hiring. Build it anyway!

# 81: All I know is that the studs will show up if I talk to enough people.

You must turn over a lot of rocks to find a few diamonds, but it is worth it.

# 82: Ninety percent of people are always going to tell you that your business is not for them. You have to go through the no’s to get the yeses. There is no other way around it.

Go for No! Every time you hear a no you are one step closer to a yes! Yes is the destination, but NO is how you get there.

# 83: If you cannot celebrate and be encouraged by the success of another, how can you expect that your success will be acceptable or motivational to your big future team.

Celebrate everyone’s successes. There is no need to be jealous or envious of others. There is plenty of room at the top. Have an abundance mentality, not a lack mentality.

# 84: As leaders we have to cater to the winners, and let the others either fix their broken mindsets or shake themselves out of the business.

Don’t let negative people and losers bring you down to their level. Remain positive and upbeat and guard your association at all cost.

# 85: People will yelp, howl, and complain non-stop about how miserable their life is, how little money they have, or how stressed out they are. But yet they choose not to get up and change it!

Most people will not change, even if they are miserable with their current situation in life. It’s a fact. Most people just like to bitch and moan so they can get a pity party from others. It’s like a dog sitting on the nail. The dog moans because it hurts, but he won’t get up and move because it doesn’t hurt bad enough. If you really want something, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse. Choose wisely.

# 86: You will come across people every day who don’t dream anymore. One of our jobs is to help people to dream again, and then show them a path to achieve those dreams.

Dream build with your team. Find out what each person on your team wants from the business and constantly remind them of it.

# 87: The most successful people I have ever met were often multi-taskers who seized opportunities when they arose, not only when it was convenient.

Success is never convenient. You must make sacrifices. When you are presented with an opportunity, make sure you embrace it. Don’t be so busy looking for pennies on the ground that you let $100 bills fly overhead.

# 88: You attract what you think about.

Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. And remember, the Law of Attraction is always working.

# 89: Our job is to recruit folks, but the real job starts once they are recruited.

Getting people in is only half the battle. Keeping them in and moving them along with their business is where the rubber meets the road. That’s what you need to master if you want to build a big team.

# 90: Most every one of my superstars took weeks or months of coddling, hand holding, coaching and promoting.

Not everyone who is serious and successful in the industry started out that way. Most people will need intensive hand holding and babysitting, especially their first few months in the business.

# 91: I want to lead my team by example.

Lead from the front. Do the things you want your team members to do. Be the captain, not the dictator.

# 92: But working on your business means you are creating team culture, developing leaders, cultivating relationships, solving problems, scaling the expansion, looking for growth opportunities and ensuring the system is running effectively.

Don’t confuse busy work with being productive. You must work smart by focusing on the income producing activities at all times: talking with your prospects.

# 93: So the key to becoming a top earner is identifying your Rising Stars, and pouring your time into their development. You can only handle doing this with one to three people at a time.

Identify the serious people in your team and invest your time, money, and energy to help them become successful. It makes more sense to spend 90% of your time with one serious person than trying to motivate people who won’t do anything, regardless of how much you help them.

# 94: Be a servant leader… focus on the goals of those you serve, and less on your own goals.

The more people you help and serve the more money you will make. You can get what you want by helping other people get what they want. That is the beauty of our industry.

# 95: They quit because they never committed in the first place.

You can’t really quit something you haven’t even started yourself. Most of the people in this great industry dabble with it. I encourage you to draw a line in the sand and give yourself at least one year to learn the ropes and develop your skills and decide if the business is or isn’t for you.

# 96: The more I read the better I get.

Read daily. It is one of the fastest and easiest ways to learn new skills and improve your life.

# 97: You can speak excitement and belief into existence. People are attracted to positive people like to uplift the spirit of others.

Most people have confidence and worthiness issues. As a sponsor, your job is to uplift, encourage and support everyone. Be their cheerleader and speak belief into others whenever possible.

# 98: I have never witnessed a complainer, gossiper, or negative person make it to the top in network marketing.

You must be positive. Positive attracts and negative repels. Have an attitude check before you talk with your prospects or team members.

# 99: Do not spread poison onto your people.

When you are feeling upset or negative, talk with your sponsor or upline. Never share your anger, disappointment or frustrations with anyone in your downline team. The last thing you want to do is rain on their parade and give them negative energy. You want to be the most positive, uplifting person your team members have in their life.

# 100: When people believe that you believe – that’s when you will attract others and success can manifest in your life. 

If you aren’t “sold out” yourself, you won’t have the conviction in your voice when you talk with others. You must believe in yourself, your company, the products and the industry, if you want to succeed. You can’t fake BELIEF.

# 101: Stay a student forever.

Focus on life-long learning. Improve daily, and make a commitment to do that for the rest of your life. By doing so, the Compound Effect will kick in and you can completely transform your life.

Connect with Brian Carruthers

1. Check him out on Facebook
2. Buy his book on Amazon

Final Thoughts

There you have it folks. These are my top Brian Carruthers quotes of all time. If you haven’t read “Building an Empire” yet you should. It is one of my top 10 favorite MLM Books of all time.

How about you? What is your favorite Brian Carruthers quote from his book Building an Empire? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,






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.