Talk about habits!…
She was only 4 years old and one day she and her mom escaped from Communist China to start a new life in Hong Kong.
When they arrived they had a few dollars but big dreams.
17 years later, she stepped out of her comfort again and left Hong Kong with her husband to pursue their American Dream in New York City.
The “She” is my mom and I’m very proud of her.
My mom is one of the few people that I look up to and have inspired me.
It’s Mother’s Day and this post is dedicated to my mom who I love very much.
12 MLM Success Habits My Mom Taught Me
My mom has had a huge impact on my success as an entrepreneur, MLM distributor and as a coach/trainer.
Success is all about habits and my mom taught me early on what it took to be successful.
As a kid I hated many of the things my mom made or not allowed me to do but as I got older, I appreciate my mom’s wisdom and I’m grateful for the success habits she taught me.
Your Habits Determine Your Success
The Habits I learned from my mom helped me:
1) Earn over million dollars in MLM and become the #1 fastest growing distributor in North America for my company in 2012
2) Become a successful coach/trainer/writer
3) Launch the #1 MLM podcast show
If you’re a parent, you may want to consider teaching these valuable 11 habits that my mom taught me.
Habit 1: Don’t Try To Fit In
I hated my mom for not letting me be like the other kids. She never wanted me to fit in and do what everyone else was doing but instead would push me to do things that others wouldn’t do.
A good example was instead of watching NFL football on Sundays, we had to go to Chinese school.
Years later I realized my mom’s wisdom.
Most people who have “normal lives” are frustrated and struggling.
If you want to be successful and have what others don’t have, you must be different.
You have to be the Purple Cow.
Habit 2: Always Compare Yourself with the Best
As a kid I always wanted to let my mom know that I did better in school than many kids. It was my way to get my mom off my back so I can have it easy.
My mom never cared about the ones that I was better. She would always point to someone better.
This habit programmed me later to have ambition and pursue greatness instead of mediocrity
Habit 3: Never Be Satisfied
Even if I got an A on a test, my mom would challenge me to see if I could get another A.
I also couldn’t stand it when my mom would keep pushing me but I realized her wisdom years later when I realized that I had the stamina and work ethic that is required to be successful in business.
She taught me the attitude and heart of a champion because Champions never rest and are always striving to be better.
Habit 4: Importance Of Networking and People Skills
My dad was a doctor (general surgery) and had his own private practice. It was a mom and pop setup with my dad being the doctor in the back room while my mom worked the reception and the billing.
I realized early on that even though my dad was a great doctor but he wasn’t the one driving the practice.
It was my mom’s networking skills that got the steady flow of patients coming in every day.
Without my mom’s people skills, no one would know about my dad and the practice would have been a bust.
Habit 5: No TV Allowed
We weren’t really allowed to watch TV as kids and I couldn’t understand why.
All the other kids could watch shows and I was totally clueless what Different Strokes, The Cosby Show, etc. were about.
Years later I came to appreciate this strict discipline.
In order to be successful in building any type of business and especially network marketing, you have to be focused and can’t waste your time sitting in front of a television.
While I’ve seen many MLM distributors struggle to “give up TV” it was easy for me because I never developed a habit of having a TV on in the house.
We did own a TV to watch occasional big sporting events but other than that, we never turned it on.
As I got older, I became super grateful for my mom for this as I studied the harmful effects of TV on our minds.
Today we do NOT have a working TV in my house.
Habit 6: Reading and Books
Instead of TV, we had books and magazines EVERYWHERE in the house.
My mom may have been frugal in many areas but she was always generous when it came to buying books and magazines.
As early as 3 – 4 years old, I would remember flipping through Newsweek magazines so that I could look at pictures of cars, tanks and planes. I couldn’t read but it got me the habit of picking up things to look at pictures.
And I guess, since the TV was never on and there were no video games, reading was the only thing to do cause there wasn’t anything else to do!
I started subscribing to Sports Illustrated when I was around 11 years old and would read it cover to cover and by the age of 16, I read almost every Stephen King and Agatha Christie novel.
If you have kids, I highly recommend you to read this book, The Read-Aloud Handbook on the importance of reading and what to read to your kids.
Habit 7: Be Generous
My mom was frugal to herself but ALWAYS generous to others. I saw the generosity can go a long way and I applied it to my business.
When I developed my first 2 full time leaders in my MLM business I surprised both of them by buying them brand new Apple MacBooks.
Nothing makes you happier than giving unexpected surprises.
Money comes and goes but the joy of giving lasts forever.
Habit 8: The Power of Self Education
My mom became a successful stock investor through self education.
She never took a business course in school but she would read relentless in understanding how stock investing works.
I learned that it’s the self education that would make you a fortune and that anyone can learn ANYTHING as long as they are willing to stay focused and invest time to learn.
Habit 9: Focus on Business and Investing and Not on a Job
Robert Kiyosaki in his book, the Cashflow Quadrant talks about if you want to achieve wealth you can’t be an employee or self employed.
You must be a business owner and an investor.
My mom knew that wisdom way before Kiyosaki wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad and ventured into stock investing in the 90s even though she never had any formal education in business.
My dad was a medical doctor with all the fancy degrees but years later my mom was able to help my dad retire 10 years EARLY because of the money made from investments outgrew the income my dad made as a doctor.
I realized that I’d rather be like my mom and work smart for 10 years than be my dad who worked hard for 30 years.
If it wasn’t for my mom, my dad would have had to work an extra 10 years!
Habit 10: Failure is Path to Success
Before stock investing, my mom tried out real estate investment and that became a nightmare.
She was easily conned out of $100,000 (this was a lot of money in the 80s) and I still remember her crying at home.
But she never quit.
She took the lessons she learned and never gave up her dreams of being a good investor.
She got back on her feet and saved up money and began investing in stocks.
If she dwelled on her real estate disaster my parents would never have the lifestyle they have today.
Habit 11: Use Emotions to Motivate You and Not Hold You Back
I remember my mom cry a lot after the real estate deal but instead of giving up or having a pity party, she used that as fuel to motivate herself to become successful and prove that conman that nothing could stop her.
I really came to appreciate this later on in my entrepreneur journey and a lot of my “haters speech” can come from this lesson my mom taught me.
Never let negative people or haters distract you. Use them as motivation to prove them wrong.
Habit 12: Do The Things You Hate To Do but Know You Must Do
This was the WORST part of my childhood and in many ways made me miserable as a kid.
I was forced to do a lot of things that I hated to do but were good for me.
Things like going to Chinese school on Sundays while other kids watched NFL or played outside…
Or having to practice playing piano when I hated music lessons. I had to practice for an hour and even if I didn’t feel like it, I had to practice an hour a day with no exceptions.
Or going to extra summer school even though I was one of the top kids in my class…
It really made me miserable for years but later on I really appreciate this because it helped me become successful in business.
Success is simply doing things that people don’t like to do and my mom trained me well to do the things you hate to do but know you should do.
Grateful to My Mom
I strongly believe my focus and discipline were all programmed into me early on because my mom taught me the right lessons.
Those were these 12 MLM success habits that my mom taught me that helped me become successful.
They were painful and I hated many of them but today I’m grateful.
As a father, I know it’s not easy to enforce discipline and always force kids do what’s good for them.
Often just letting kids get what they want is way easier (lazy parenting) but it hurts the child in the long run.
How many of these habits do you have and are you teaching them to your kids?
Make sure you apply them.
Please comment below and let me know what good habits you picked up from your mom
I was lucky to have my mother program these habits to me early on.
I appreciate and admire my mom for being the mom she was and this post is dedicated to her. I’m lucky to have a mom like mine.
I love you Mommy!
Simon Chan
