Shane Morand is a network marketing leader with an organization of over 600,000 people in thirty-three countries. An avid student of Napoleon Hill since his teens, he developed early on a passion for personal development and inspiring teams to higher performance. Originally based in Ottawa, Canada, Shane built several network marketing organizations in the nineties, then took a break from the business to become a speaker and consultant. In 2008, after sampling a product he really liked, Shane became the cofounder and master distributor for a brand new company that promotes “healthier coffee” and a variety of other wellness products. Despite the looming economic crisis, the company took off and experienced rapid growth, both in North America and internationally. “The reason for our success is that we take a habit most people already have,” says Shane. “We simply serve them a cup of our coffee (or tea) with an added herb, and we ask how they like the taste and how it makes them feel. Then we tell them they can buy it at the same price or less than what they pay at a coffee shop or for gourmet coffee.” Shane believes the essence of network marketing is a friend telling a friend telling a friend. He motivates and encourages people by showing them the simplicity of the business, then focusing on personal and leadership development. Shane now lives near Toronto with his wife Josie in their dream home. He drives his dream car, travels all over the world, and meets new friends every day. What makes him jump out of bed in the morning is knowing he can make an even greater impact by continuing to help people who desire to be, do, and have more to grow and develop the leader within.
Shane and his greatest supporter, his wife Josie.
Discovering a Passion
After finishing college, Shane started working in the printing and publishing industry. At age twenty-five he became the youngest vice president of sales in the history of a major printing company in Ottawa. “When I was nineteen years old, someone handed me a copy of Think and Grow Rich,” he remembers. “I fell in love with it and used the knowledge I gained to build a team. In a very short time, we tripled sales. ”Shane loved to motivate and inspire others to produce more. When he turned twenty-eight, he went to work with Anthony Robbins and became a certified facilitator for Robbins in Canada. He also started promoting seminars for Brian Tracy, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Brown, Jim Rohn, and others. “It was Jim Rohn who introduced me to network marketing,” says Shane.
Shaking hands with Dr. J. B. Hill, grandson of Napoleon Hill; sharing the stage with Bernie Chua (holding Dr. Hill’s portrait) and Holton Buggs (holding award from the Napoleon Hill Foundation).
“He told me about an American start-up that was promoting a television network to bring personal development into people’s homes. ”In love with the product, Shane jumped in with both feet and introduced the business concept in Canada. “It was a beautiful model,” he says, “but way ahead of its time. What I discovered was that, while everyone needs personal development, only about three percent actually want it. It was hard work trying to tap into that three percent. ”The company eventually was bought by another network marketing company that sold legal memberships, which Shane found a lot easier to market. He used the knowledge and skills he had acquired to set up training systems, and in his first year his team broke every record in the company’s twenty-four-year history. “The problem was that our service providers couldn’t keep up with our explosive growth,” he says. “We eventually ran into some problems, and my wife made me promise I would never do network marketing again. ”Shane went back to traditional business, doing speaking and consulting again—until one day someone handed him a coffee sample and asked him if he knew anybody who drank coffee. “In Canada?” thought Shane. “Almost everybody drinks coffee! But who actually needs it? Nobody. Who wants it? Everybody.”
Attending the Napoleon Hill Leader Certification 2010, Adare, Ireland.
He realized that this was the opposite of what he had learned about personal development: everyone needs it but hardly anyone wants it. Once he made that connection, he says, he knew he was onto something big. He eventually met with the founder of the company and in June of 2008 became a cofounder and global master distributor. “It was possibly the worst time in history to launch a company,” says Shane. “But we had a clear vision—and that’s all we had.” At that point, he says, they had no infrastructure, no staff, no comp plan, no products, not even a name for the company. “We had a white piece of paper and moved forward step by step and on purpose. Our goal was to take all the things we didn’t like about network marketing and eliminate them, then look at all the things we did like and see how we could make them even better. If we wanted to create the best company possible, what would we do? How would we treat our distributors?” Shane’s wife, Josie, who had been opposed to the business, changed her mind when she tried the product and realized it was something she would want to buy as a customer. She became Shane’s biggest supporter, and today she takes care of all the administrative aspects of their business so he is free to do what he loves most: sampling his products and sharing his story with friends, old and new.
Early Challenges
Company founders at Formula 1 race.
One thing Shane didn’t like about his previous network marketing experiences was the rivalry and lack of support between teams. “Sometimes I wanted to go and learn from another leader, but I didn’t feel welcome,” he says. “I found this heartbreaking and discouraging. With our new company, we wanted to correct this by creating a global culture where everyone was welcome, regardless of the team. To this day, we have no such thing as a private meeting or the idea of doing something ‘for my team only.’” Shane clearly remembers the difficulty of getting started without infrastructure, financing, or even a product line. “We had one product that tasted amazing and made people feel good,” he says. “We designed our entire system for the person who had no experience or success in network marketing. Our thought was, if we can show someone how to make a dollar, or a few dollars, then we can show them how to make fifty dollars or a hundred dollars. We knew that by teaching people how to do a few simple things that could produce even a small result, we could grow this into a global success.” Shane and his team developed the following simple system:
- Invite some friends over;
- Boil some water and serve them a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate;
- If they like it, offer them some product at retail;
- If they know other people who drink coffee, show them how they can get their product for free or even build a business;
- If they don’t like it, never mention the product or business to them again.
Shane started giving presentations to friends and people he met in the course of everyday life. “We could not go to network marketing leaders to talk about our opportunity,” he says, “because we had no credibility or evidence of success. If they had asked, ‘Where’s your office?’ or ‘Where’s your infrastructure?’ we would have had no answer. We didn’t even have an official logo or proper branding until eighteen months into it. ”For the first year and a half, Shane and his team laid the foundation of the business based on a few simple steps anybody could duplicate over a consistent period, regardless of their language, background, or age (as long as they were over eighteen). They created a few success stories of people who had no prior business experience, then a few more. Today Shane’s team is attracting worldclass leaders with years of experience, but he says the same strategy applies whether the person is seasoned or has never been involved. The strategy consists of small home events that take the form of “coffee-and-jazz mixers.” “If you can boil water, invite a few friends over, and tell a story, you’ve got what it takes,” he says. “We don’t do anything complicated, so we don’t leave anybody behind. We want people to come out of our meetings feeling they can totally do this in their spare time—and eventually even full time, if they have the desire to provide a better financial future for their families.”
Expanding Internationally
With VP of Sales, Holton Buggs.
Shane’s company launched in three countries at once: the Philippines, Canada, and the United States. After several months, a network marketing leader by the name of Holton Buggs (featured in the March/April 2005 issue of Networking Times) joined as a distributor under the condition that the company would let him open up Jamaica. “I’ve got some good people there who are struggling right now, and I think they will do really well,” Holton told the company’s founders. “Imagine Jamaica,” says Shane, “one of the top coffee-producing countries in the world—and we’re going in with coffee?! We decided to place our trust in Holton—and today Jamaica is a thriving market.” Holton eventually became the company’s vice president of sales worldwide, and he and Shane continued to bring the product to new countries, such as Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico. Eventually they opened up Europe, starting with the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. “The way we launched into different countries was just through people knowing people who lived there,” says Shane. “If someone had contacts in a certain country, we would follow that leader into that country. We knew if the person had reached a certain level, he or she had the skills to lead a team.”
Performing at the Napoleon Hill Leader Certification 2010, Bunratty Castle, Ireland.
Shane, how do you define a leader?
One of the most important traits is doing what you say you’re going to do. Sometimes distributors are so excited they can’t stop talking and they exaggerate. That’s not leadership. We try to instill that if you say you’re going to do something, you get it done, even if it hurts. If you say you’re going to read a chapter of Think and Grow Rich every day, then read it. We are developing leaders who are thinking carefully before they speak. “I’m going to bring ten people to my house on Monday.” Well, you better call forty so ten people show up. Next, make sure you have a definite purpose, use your imagination to develop a clear vision, and take personal initiative. This all comes down to the principles Napoleon Hill put forth in 1937. Our distributors read about them and learn them by practicing them. Time goes by and next thing they know, others are calling them leaders. Leadership is based on accountability in its simplest form. Too many people come into this business wanting to know the most advanced tricks and fanciest systems. We say that our most advanced system is the simplest. Master the basics and you’ll become an expert in any company you work with. — S.M
What is the most important success principle you learned from Napoleon Hill?
We call it GEM, short for Going the Extra Mile. It is the action of rendering more and better service than what you are presently compensated for. It is a fundamental principle that can be applied in every business and all aspects of life. The Universal Law neither permits any living thing to get something for nothing nor allows any form of labor to go unrewarded. When you go the extra mile, the Law of Compensation always rewards you, sooner or later.
What all great leaders have in common is that they initially give much more in services, time, and energy than they are paid for—and they do it with a positive mental attitude. The majority of people fail to practice this one fundamental habit and therefore miss out on the tremendous benefits that come with it.
If you want your organization to grow quickly, learn this principle first by studying this habit in others. Then, take action by developing your reputation as someone who always finds ways to go the extra mile: make the extra call, invite the extra guest, conduct the extra coffee-and-jazz mixer, add an extra customer, and so on. The most difficult part is that in the beginning, you will feel you are not being rewarded for your extra effort. However, if you stay committed and develop the habit of going the extra mile, it will lead to profits beyond your wildest expectations. — S.M.
What are some tips you would give someone starting out today?
Your paycheck will be determined by not only how well you do what you do, but also by how many people you can help do what you do. Whatever the product line or service you’re providing, get good at earning a little bit of extra income through a method you’re comfortable with, and then immediately teach everyone to do what you have learned how to do.
To grow your business fast, you have to find something that’s so simple anyone can duplicate it quickly. Make sure you’re focusing on others’ success, not just your own. Focus on your team, and make sure that those who want to work can at least understand the basics of how to generate income, and you’ll never have to worry about yourself.
It’s pretty simple. The crazy part is that people who reach a certain level forget where they started, and they start talking in a way that causes the brand new person to think he or she doesn’t stand a chance. Always remember where you came from and how you started, and tell your story from that perspective. Lastly, develop the habit of believing in yourself, even if you think others do not. Do whatever it takes to grow your belief in yourself stronger and faster. If you do not believe in yourself, who will? — S.M.
Meeting with company founder and VP of Sales.
Even in international markets, Shane teaches people to focus on building locally, sharing coffee or tea with friends while having conversations. “You can have ten or twenty of these coffeeand-jazz mixers happening in one night in different parts of the city,” says Shane. “Once a week, we get everyone together for a bigger event, which includes a formal presentation and adds credibility.” At the home meetings, Shane and his team don’t present the business opportunity because they want everyone to become a customer first. If someone expresses interest in starting a business, they invite him or her to the weekly meeting. Shane’s organization does hardly any business building online. “We prefer to build belly-to-belly,” he says. “A computer can’t hand someone a cup of coffee. We are all about friends telling friends about something they love. Even though we don’t build online, 90 percent of our business comes from repeat orders, which are often placed online.” Shane says even though most customers become loyal to the brand, his team does experience attrition, but nowhere near the industry average.
Teaching a lesson from Think and Grow Rich.
To address this, Shane resorts to his background in leadership training. “Our business model does not revolve around motivating people,” he says. “We give people an opportunity to lead by demonstrating what leadership is. People learn best from seeing you in action. If they come over to my house and see me boiling water, making coffee, and sharing stories, their confidence level goes up and they think, ‘I could do this on my own. I don’t need you anymore.’ “Leading by example also means being constantly in front of people rather than working in your office. The sampling process we've put together is our number one daily activity, because it is the best, simplest, most effective marketing tool in the world. It’s simple and fun, and it doesn’t change, regardless of the country or culture.”
Personal Development
Another way Shane and his leadership team motivate distributors is by holding a weekly millionaire mentorship call: every Sunday night someone who has become or is becoming a millionaire talks for one hour about best practices. Several thousand people from all over the world call in or listen to the replays. Shane says his company’s focus on leadership is substantial. “From the beginning, we realized the only way we were going to reach our goals was doing one of two things: either we had to develop leaders, or we needed to attract them. Because we couldn't easily attract them, we put together a leadership development program in collaboration with the Napoleon Hill Foundation. We came out with a collector’s edition of Think and Grow Rich with our logo on the front cover, leather-bound with gold foil and tassels. We also offer the audio-book in English and Spanish so people could learn Hill’s success principles while driving or exercising.” All the proceeds from this special edition go the Napoleon Hill Foundation. Shane’s company wants to become the largest financial contributor in the history of this nonprofit organization. “People think of us as a coffee company,” says Shane. “But ultimately, we want to become the biggest personal development company in history. We invest 90 percent of our time at events and conventions in personal and professional development.” Shane’s life mission is to purposefully develop leaders through their collaboration with the Napoleon Hill Foundation. “In the end, the journey is not about how much money you can make,” he says. “It’s not about how big you can grow your business. It is about who you become on your journey with your network marketing company.” Shane says his wife, Josie, Holton Buggs, and the CEO and founder of the company all feel the same way. They love seeing someone come in with little experience and no prior leadership capabilities and watch him or her over the months and years develop into a world-class leader heading up a global organization. “That growth is what we’re most excited about,” says Shane. “We know if we can keep doing that, our company will keep on thriving.”
CHANGE YOUR LIFE...CHANGE YOUR COFFEE!!!
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Do you know who Napoleon Hill is? Have you ever read Think and Grow Rich By Napoleon Hill? If not, let us explain. Napoleon Hill is world-renown for making more millionaires than anyone in the world. Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich has sold more than 80 million copies worldwide. It revolutionized the whole concept of self-help writing and to this day remains the standard against which all other motivational literature is measured. This classic of classics on the subject of personal achievement has helped literally millions of people to lead richer, fuller lives. It is said that Hill has made more millionaires and inspired more successes than any other person in history.
