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You’ve probably heard the saying “the more things change the more they stay the same”. I entered the game (network marketing) just as the internet was ramping up, about the same time you didn’t need to be a bodybuilder to hold a cell phone to your ear (remember the bricks of past years?). We were essentially told to write that proverbial names list (you’ve heard it – by 21 you know 2000 people… ) and start calling – did that ever work?

Not knowing much about the industry we simply used the products we purchased monthly and attended every training we could. We were lucky, we benefited from the products our company of choice produced so personal consumption was never an issue.

Like so many people we got no’s pretty well everywhere we turned but with sheer persistence eventually found and trained some great people and our business took off.

Fast forward 10 years it’s time to bring our MLM business online – why you may ask. Simple, while the essence of network marketing is the same, marketing methods evolve and change over time. One of the hallmarks of the 21st century is “You Inc”, or personal branding.

Thanks to the internet I’ve developed what I call a hybrid model, using the best offline MLM business strategies with online strategies. This means real approaches where I can send people to a web based presentation or do a one on one presentation if local, and attraction marketing through social media and content marketing to extend my reach.

Online is definitely a learned skill which for me at least has and is taking time but is absolutely worth it. “Brand you” will get you so far offline, and we have built teams in numerous countries just to prove the point, but online you’re only limited by your belief in yourself and the effort you put in.

Key lessons from my journey so far:

• Pick the right guru (s) to follow
• Throw some money at quality training, it speeds up the learning curve enormously
• Invest in personal growth on a daily basis. Network marketing / internet marketing is often called a personal growth course wrapped in a compensation plan – your income grows as you grow
• Have an advertising budget
• Find your voice – don’t give your voice to someone else. Sure you can outsource your content (assuming content marketing is part of your strategy) to oDesk and the like, but rolling up your sleeves and creating your own content gives you authenticity
• Be patient – it takes time but it does take
• Have a daily plan of action – social marketing can drain your time. Never forget it’s only part of the answer, you still need to daily prospect
• Find a company to align yourself with that supports online marketing as part of the mix
• Don’t be afraid to look outside your company for the training you need
• Persistence – stick with it. Seriously, if there is one skill that trumps all others this has to be it

“Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary.” John F. Kennedy

I like what JFK had to say for a couple reasons. First, if you can’t stand up and say it in 15 or 20 minutes, then keep your rear end planted in the chair. When it comes to business communication skills, ponderous length doesn’t impress; it alienates. We’re all busy, and we all have limited attention spans. FOCUS your message and never forget: Brevity is clarity.

In business communication, the same rule applies whether you’re trying to sharpen your presentation skills or writing skills. Keep your audience or readers uppermost in your mind — stifling the urge to pontificate — and they’ll be there with you. The last thing you want them to do is examine the insides of their eyelids when you’re halfway through your speech.

Of course, keeping it concise isn’t necessarily the easiest way. Many times I recall returning to the newsroom as a reporter with a notebook full of facts and juicy quotes from a homicide scene or a contentious city council meeting, only to hear my editor say: “We’re putting it on the front page, but keep it short. We’ve only got 10 inches for it.”

Ouch, I’d think. I don’t have time to write short. Now I have to decide what NOT to use. But remember: It’s worth it. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was 278 words, and it took him only six or seven minutes to deliver the magnificent 701-word Second Inaugural Address. No, you’re not Lincoln. But you are capable of distilling your thoughts and stifling your ego.

Second, I’ve got some advice for anyone frightened at the prospect of stand-up business communication, meaning a presentation or a speech: Think about it as a conversation between two intelligent people who care about effective communication. That way, you’re not an actor all alone up there on a stage. Instead, you’re in a dialogue that takes on energy and depth thanks to partners who listen and work with you.

In a conversation, avoiding eye contact would be rude, wouldn’t it? So why would you lower the lights and keep turning away from your listeners to look at a PowerPoint presentation on a screen behind you?

Any good conversation is two-way, a give-and-take, a natural form of effective communication skills that benefits both parties. Of course, with a speech, you have to start out by doing most of the talking. But everything you say should be directed at encouraging questions from audience members and a conversation among them. If you start by standing up and speaking, then find yourself facilitating a lively discussion, congratulate yourself. You can add public speaking to your growing list of communication skills.

Quality Time With Some Talking Seals

Not long ago, I did some writing training and presentation skills training for seven bright young SEALs, the Navy equivalent of Special Forces. When they’re not “operational” in South America or Bosnia or Afghanistan or Iraq, these seven guys test new weapons and tactics at the Naval Special Weapons Development Group in Virginia Beach, Va.

Having covered the Pentagon for Business Week magazine, my expectations were low when it comes to military writing skills — jargony, acronym-clogged, even pompous-sounding language. I was in for a pleasant surprise. To be sure, the SEALs were a bit wordy, but they quickly grasped the key to any workplace writing: Get to the point. Tell me what you want. Persuade me to adopt a new policy or spend money, analyze a complex situation, or explain a new development. Then tell me why I should be interested, what’s in it for me. From there, you support that idea with details.

What’s more, respect me, and all readers, by being concise. Quoting the English poet Robert Southey: “If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams — the more they are condensed the deeper they burn.” That’s quite a leap from modern-day elite warriors to a Romantic Age poet, isn’t it? Still, it’s all about deploying the language we share to achieve effective communication, using words wisely and economically and with conviction.

I heard something else from the SEALs that makes me think all is not lost when it comes to military writing today. Their superiors have introduced them to a writing organization concept called “bottom line up front.” Makes sense, doesn’t it? Get to the point. Unfortunately, that leaves us with the acronym BLUF. I wonder if the powers-that-be would like to rephrase that.