Martin Schmalenbach

I am married to Tracy and live Phoenix, AZ, having moved from the very south of the UK, near Southampton (member of the <a href="http://www.betternetworker.com/groups/uk-networkers-inc">UK Networkers Inc Group</a>). We've been involved in network marketing since 2001.

I'm an engineer by training, and now mostly work with individuals and organisations to enhance their business performance. I'm exploring the links between traditional business organisations and models and network marketing - what can individuals operating as network marketers learn from 'the big boys' and vice versa. These are rich & fertile grounds for new solutions to old problems as well as solutions to new problems.

A more business-oriented Bio is posted right at the end of this, so if that's where your first interest is with my bio, scroll down there now!

I have extensive experience in the big corporate world in continuous improvement and leadership development - I spent 5 years in the British Royal Air Force managing ground-based training for helicopter aircrew, and driving the Human Factors Flight Safety Programme in to the front line squadrons. During my time I also overhauled the approach to on-going leadership development 'at the front line' so to speak - happy, challenging days!

Since then I've worked all over the world with big corporates as well as 1 person home based businesses, focusing on business performance and growth.

What drives me is helping people and organisations make informed decisions so they are more likely to take decisions that lead to success for them.

Tracy & I had fairly typical, and bad, experiences with MLM before we had the breakthroughs that put us on the path to our success in life. We're still on that journey, and expect (hope!) to be for the rest of the lives.

I'm looking forward to learning, contributing and just 'hanging out'!

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A little bit more about me - I enjoy flying and all things that do fly - artificial and natural! I love rugby (yeah - the Six Nations Tournament starts this coming Saturday - sorry Tracy!) and I'm active in my local community, chairman of the local Round Table group providing support to local needy causes. We've supported recently a local emergency care baby unit after one of our nuber had his first child born 11 weeks early - little Zack was very ill, and though he's now diagnosed with Cereberal Palsy he's doing great. We've supported the local Young Carers group - Young carers are kids under the age of 18 who are the primary carer in their family - they may have a parent or sibling who is needy - illness and/or substance-dependent - almost every story is a tragic one - we gave their center a make-vover - new windows, new computers, redecorated, etc. I also youn lads who need help in socialising - I just love it.

Tracy and I have 3 dogs and a rabbit but no kids - we can't as Tracy has suffered very bad endometriosis and after the 3rd bout of major surgery which should have been 90 minutes long but became almost 7 hours due to major complications we've accepted that we can't have them naturally, so now we're looking at adoption - exciting stuff!

Tracy is a medical secretary working with a consultant haematologist, and very good at it. She's my best buddy and my biggest fan, and I have to say I'm her biggest (literally!) fan.

We have both travelled extensively around the world, and just love connecting with other cultures.

One vice we both have is for potato chips and chocolate - in any form!

Cheers

Martin

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A more 'business-oriented' bio...

I help business managers and operators take informed decisions so they can enhance the performance of their operations.

With corporations this tends to focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of operations (e.g. sales & logistics) AND teamworking, so I apply appropriate methods from the fields of continuous improvement and leadership & psychology.

With smaller operations, typically home-based businesses such as internet marketing and network marketing or multi-level marketing operations I help these individuals achieve the breakthrough they're looking for - enough income to survive, and the sustained growth over time.

There's a lot of cross-over! I find corporates can learn from the experiences of the home-based operations, and vice-versa.

So I guess my original posting here still holds, and I've kept some of it below to provide more 'flavour' - it's got a corporate focus.

More recently I've been promoting my Network Marketing Manifesto, a freely downloadable resource designed to educate potential and new entrants to network marketing and working from home, to educate about the major obstacles to success and the many lies & myths that exist about this industry.

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I help managers eliminate their performance frustrations.

Problem – how to continue performing at higher and higher levels in a very competitive environment and where the squeeze on resources seems relentless?

Solution – tackle the root causes of performance issues before they get too big, so the issues are unlikely to come back.

Barriers to moving from problem to solution – managers & their teams feel they don't have time & resources needed, or not have all the skills needed, or lack sense of hope they can make a difference as past attempts failed or added to pressures they're under.

Overcoming these barriers – as a team, tackle small & important performance issue, use external facilitator to get appropriate clarity & focus & inject needed knowledge and skills. This quickly resolves performance issue once and for all. Use time saved and hope generated by this experience to tackle additional performance issues one at a time. Make this approach part of ‘business as usual’.

Why me? – my track record of success(*) and adding value speaks for itself. Uniquely, I can help you tackle both the process and the people aspects of performance issues. Typically my competitors will help with one or the other but not both. The extra benefits my approach brings is faster resolution, greater levels of buy-in, morale and hope in the team, plus a quicker uptake of the core capabilities for improving performance – so they can do this with minimal continuing support from me or others.

(*) Track Record - some examples...

- reduced call volumes in a call centre by 50% (approx 100K calls per week) - eliminating the non-value calls (from customer & client perspective) saving approx 90 posts ($2M annual wages).

- saved >$1.3M in annual recruitment costs by reducing employee attrition during first 12 months employee is with organisation.

- saved >$1M in annual equipment & cargo damage costs at a port logistics facility

- linked 'soft skills' training to bottom line