P R O F I L E
From the December 1999 Issue
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P R O F I L E |
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By ALEC JAMES
Photos by Deborah WhitlawJohnny Keller is building a castle.
Not a castle in the air; not a sand castle. A real one - with a moat and drawbridge, but it's not in Europe; it's in Asheville, North Carolina, and he's building it for his kids. It's one of three buildings he and his wife, Karen, are planning on an incredible 7.3-acre plot of land with a 180 degree view of the gorgeous Smoky Mountains. He's also laying a foundation for his children, teaching by example: owning your own business is the pathway to personal and financial freedom.
In their campaign to find the right spot for their dream house, which will be in Southern Plantation style, the Kellers recently moved to Asheville, rented a house with wraparound decks and exquisite views of an award-winning golf course next door (golf is one of Johnny's many passions), and began the search in style. A friend, Bruce Goforth, is beginning work on the house. Meanwhile, when he's not on the golf course, you can usually find Johnny carrying on a conference call or tele-training from his deck overlooking the fifth hole.
Failing With a Good Attitude
The journey for Keller has not been an easy one. A top distributor for Royal BodyCare - the Irving, Texas-based network marketing company that distributes health and personal care products - Johnny built an organization that generates more than 75 percent of Royal BodyCare's U.S. volume. His downline worldwide exceeds 50,000, and he and his family spend a month each year in Hawaii. Keller gladly admits that along the way he's made every mistake possible for a distributor.Keller knew from a young age that the vast majority of people who become rich do it by owning their own businesses. "I used to go around the neighborhood selling seeds when I was eleven," he recalls from his childhood in the Baldwin suburb of Pittsburgh. "When I was 12, while the other kids were sledding, I ran my own morning-to-night snow-shoveling service. I've always loved to sell, and I've never had an aversion to hard work."
At 18, Keller learned about network marketing. He tried it and for six years, failed miserably.
"I had a good attitude, but I really didn't know what I was doing. I was failing with a good attitude." At first, says Keller, he thought of himself as a maverick, wanting to figure out everything on his own, doing it his own way. "The end result: I kept falling flat on my face. What I should have done was seek out a mentor to teach me his system. It's no accident when someone is making a lot of money in network marketing; there's a reason for it."
During those difficult six years, "I was very motivated," Keller recalls, "but motivation is not enough. If you motivate an idiot, all you've got is a motivated idiot. Okay, I may not have been an idiot - but I wasn't with the right companies. And I didn't know how to analyze a company. I didn't know what a Unique Selling Proposition was. I didn't know how to look at a product line and ask, 'Is this something the public would really want? Is this something that will be of benefit to people?' I didn't know how to analyze compensation plans, to ask, 'Is this a compensation plan that will stand the test of time?' There are a lot of variables that go into analyzing a network marketing company - and you better make sure you cross your t's and dot your i's before you decide which one to go with."
The Importance of a Mentor
Eventually, Johnny found a mentor. Jim Strickland, a top network marketing producer in Ohio, took Johnny under his wing and taught him the ropes."Jim saw that I was young, broke, and eager to learn. I guess he thought that was a good combination. He believed in me and taught me to be passionate. He also taught me that network marketing really is about marketing."
By age 24, Johnny had created a significant organization and gained an education in networking. He went in search of a more solid company to work with, and after further false starts and misadventures, Johnny found his way to Royal BodyCare.
"I could probably write a book on the mistakes I've made along the way. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Success comes from good judgment, good judgment comes from experience, and experience is often the result of bad judgment. Thomas Edison took the attitude that a mistake just means you're that much closer to success. Edison was right."
Keller is convinced that your first 90 days are absolutely key in recruiting people.
"People may have big dreams and big goals, but many times, if they're not having their hand held, not being nourished, they end up quitting the business," according to Keller. "Ninety percent of new recruits will leave the business within 90 days. Our job as sponsors - and it is a true responsibility - is to help all of our new people get off to the fastest start possible. Teach them a simple system with which they can go out and see some success, even if it's only baby steps; their belief level will grow, and they'll have a serious opportunity to become very successful."
He also insists on a commitment to self-development. "If they're serious about success, people need to commit to spending a half hour a day listening to tapes in their car or reading a good book. I will not work with someone who won't accept that network marketing is a business of growth and of stepping out of your comfort zone."
Saved by the Tapes
John and Karen Keller with
Joshua, Lindsey, and Nicole
To Keller, self-development is personal. About 11 years ago, he got out of network marketing and tried his hand at financial planning. "For about two and a half years, I was in a very bad financial situation. I had become very negative and quite despondent, and if I hadn't been involved in self-development since I was 18 years old, I don't believe I would have known how to turn it around."When I joyfully told my wife that I was getting back into network marketing, she said, 'You're a few French fries short of a Happy Meal.'" The key in such situations, says Keller, is to display your resolve. "She saw that I was determined to stick with it. People will watch you like a hawk: are you going to waver, or are you willing to stick to your guns?"
Years later, on an all-expense-paid cruise to Bermuda that Keller had won as a sponsor's prize, "My wife put her arm around me and said, 'Aren't you glad we got into network marketing?'"
Glad they are, indeed. In the years since, network marketing has allowed them the freedom for Karen to stay home with their children, for Johnny to pursue his business full time from home - and for both of them to design a new house that will both support and express their values.
The main house will cover 10,000 square feet with a magnificent entryway and Gone-With-the-Wind spiral staircase. It features an indoor pool, workout room, sauna and steambath, hardwood floors with cherry panel-and-trim (even cherry banisters), and an endless list of features and extras. There is also a separate wing for guests, so that members of the Keller's downline can visit them and still have their privacy.
You might say the bottom line, though, is the castle and the other play-house, which will be a classic Victorian, with wraparound gardens and flower boxes. Nicole, 7, Joshua, 5, and Lindsey, 16 months, are the principal beneficiaries of these building plans.
"Ultimately," Keller says, "network marketing is all about enhancing your family life. It really offers you the opportunity to be around your family constantly. Not only can Karen stay home - I can, too. I can go to the park with my children, and I always notice that there aren't very many other daddies around. That's another one of my goals: to get more daddies at the park with their kids."
Network marketing is obviously the key to Johnny's goals.
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