Ray Higdon

Ray Higdon’s Millionaire Training Story

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I was in real estate until the housing crisis hit, and I lost everything. I was a million dollars in debt. My house was in foreclosure, I was going through a divorce, and I was sleeping on my buddy’s couch. I found my way into network marketing and went on to do very well.

At the time I met Larry and Taylor, to be honest, I hadn’t been a great student of network marketing.  I hadn’t even heard of Jim Rohn.  I know it probably sounds strange for long-time networkers to hear, but I hadn’t.  And I was the #1 income earner and doing a lot of training for my company.

I remember going to Larry and I’m like, “Hey man, you know, have you seen any of my training?”

Larry’s like, “Yeah, yeah.”

So, I ask him, “Well, what do you think of it?”

He said, “You know what?  It’s really good for you and about 5% of your team.”

I’m thinking, I don’t know what he means.  I was confused at first. Like, I don’t understand. Is he saying it’s too complicated?

That really messed me up because it was feedback I hadn’t received before.  But, let me tell you something.  The most valuable thing that you can get as an entrepreneur (or as someone who wants to improve) is candid feedback.  And it’s so hard to do, because everyone wants a pat on the back because that’s a lot easier. It’s a lot easier to say, “Good job up there.”

You have to have some gumption to give someone candid feedback. And that’s what Larry gave me, and that’s such a precious gift.

One of the most significant pillars in network marketing training is Larry’s 80-15-5 model, which is now referred to as The Thompson Rule.  It goes like this…80% of people have a level of desire to earn $0 to $500 a month, 15% of people have a level of desire to earn between $2,000 and $3,000 a month, but only 5% have a level of desire to earn $25,000 or more a month.

When Larry and Taylor taught me this, it just made a lot of sense. It has got to be the largest pillar in your network marketing training.  It is so important, and it’s been so lost.  If I look at other trainers and even top leaders, they don’t get it.

They think it’s about aggression. They think it’s about intensity.  They think it’s about getting a check in the hand of every person as soon as humanly possible; that intensity is just chasing people away.

The essence of network marketing is having a good culture.  It’s about making people feel good regardless of the level of their desire or result.  All of that I learned from Larry.  The core essence of understanding the different levels of desire is the training that people need in network marketing because with that training, you can filter through everything else that you do.

I’ll tell you, every time I listen to Larry and Taylor, I have a new takeaway.  If I’m at an event and Larry and Taylor are speaking, I make a point to be in that room.

With Larry, I’m just so grateful.  Through that understanding of 80-15-5 and the concepts he has taught over the last 50+ years, we’ve been able to help a lot of people.  It’s one of the core things I teach my people and if we are speaking at a company event, we are edifying Larry and Taylor and bringing that up.

After being in network marketing for over a decade now, as both a student and teacher, I’ve learned two big lessons. One is, despite the wisdom of Scarface, you can get high on your own supply.  If you’re a six-figure earner, you can feel like you’re on top of the world and that you’re the best there is.

The second lesson I’ve discovered is, understand the difference between hearing something and executing it. You hear something, and you think you know it, but you don’t know something until you’ve actually gone out and implemented the thing you were told to do. Some people see being a student as an accumulation of knowledge. That mindset may help you win on Jeopardy!, but in reality, no one is quizzing you on facts. This is a doing, take action kind of business.

I’m not interested in the accumulation of knowledge. Most people get stuck in learn mode, but never do anything with it. They don’t teach it, share it, implement it, or execute it, and that’s a problem. That’s not a problem for someone else, that’s a problem for them.

Not everyone is a five-percenter, and you should be ok with that. It’s better to absorb and accept that fact. Larry always says, “The check doesn’t make you a leader. A leader is determined by what you’re doing TODAY.”

I’m sure there have been many times over the last five decades when Larry didn’t feel like sharing his knowledge or he felt like doing something else. There are lots of people who have vast expertise, but they go elsewhere and stop sharing. I’m grateful Larry kept giving of his wisdom. With his talent, he could do anything that he wants, but I’m thankful he’s remained a mentor and a coach with a massively positive impact on all of us, whether it is directly or indirectly.

When it comes to network marketing, there is one person I’ve learned the most from and that is Larry Thompson, there is no question.