Hello and welcome to Digital Networker.  My name is Ben Sturtevant, Founder & CEO of DigitalNetworker.io – the most complete source of Network Marketing Online Training!

I started in the profession in 1997 when I was 19 years old.  I had no credibility, no business experience, and no clue what I was doing.  For my first 3 years in Network Marketing I tried to follow the training of the top earners in my company (those 3 years were all in the same company BTW).  

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get people to buy into what I was throwing out there.  I’m sure it had everything to do with the fact that I was extremely uncomfortable going after my friends and family for business stuff and that likely came across in the way I talked to them.

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in Network Marketing.  It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in my company, I truly did.  It’s just that the methods that worked for the top earners made me feel extremely uncomfortable.  And, as a human being, I avoid doing things I’m not comfortable with, it’s just that simple.

Reality Check Time – Should I leave NEtwork Marketing?

Then in late September of 2000 I was approaching my 3-year anniversary with my company.  At the end of every year I would look back and try and learn from what I had done in the past year and try and set new goals for the upcoming one.

That’s when I had a real hard look in the mirror and I said to myself, “Okay Ben, what you’re doing obviously isn’t getting results, either find a different way to achieve the success you want or quit, stop wasting everyone’s time.”

I didn’t want to quit, I’m extremely loyal (2 companies in 22 years).  So quitting wasn’t an option.  But I had to find a way to make Network Marketing work and clearly doing what the top earners were teaching wasn’t going to work for me.  It felt forced, unnatural, it just made me feel icky.  

It was around this time when high-speed internet was starting to come around.  Google had been around for a little bit and I started seeing these “ads” popping up on places like Google and Yahoo’s search engines.

I thought, “Hmm, that’s smart of these businesses.  They take their offer and put it in front of the people who are looking for what they have to sell, that makes sense!”

My Big Epiphany – Enter Online Marketing

That’s when it hit me!  Why can’t I do that in Network Marketing?

And so began my journey to learn how online marketing (also called Digital Marketing) works.

It took me a couple of years of taking some courses, testing out things here and there but finally it happened…

I’ll never forget the day.  I woke up to get ready for work (I was working full-time in Physical Therapy), walked downstairs and opened up my email.  BING!  There was the notification.  I looked in my inbox and there it was, my very first lead notification!!!

Someone I didn’t know had clicked on one of my ads, opted into my crappy little squeeze/landing page (we didn’t know to call them those back then) and requested information.  They came to me, asking me for information.  

The feeling I had I’ll never forget.  Finally, I saw a way for me to be successful in Network Marketing long-term.  I knew this worked and the process to make this happen was something I felt totally comfortable with.

Yes, the process of learning was extremely hard but I much preferred that hard over chasing my friends and family all over town and social media (remember MySpace – LOL).  

All-In With Online Marketing

From that moment on I was all-in.  I spent more money to learn, spent more money on ads.  I found some software that let me build my marketing pages faster and made them look pretty (even though I had zero web design or graphics skills).  And, slowly but surely I started getting some growth.  

People started joining, I started making a check with a comma in it, and I started rank advancing.

Within 14 months I matched my income in Physical Therapy and my wife’s as a Microbiologist.

This was 2003.  I have been full-time in Network Marketing ever since that point!

How Digital Networker Came About

I joined my 2nd company in 2006 and helped launch a new wireless MLM called Lightyear Wireless.  My team exploded and within a couple of years I was the #1 income earner.  

I was the #1 earner from 2008 to 2012 when someone on my team passed me up (what a cool feeling).  Then, in 2015 our company as sold and the new owners made some drastic changes.  

The short version is they slashed the comp plan and it hurt a lot of the smaller builders.

As you can imagine, this took the passion out of a lot of the leaders, including me.  So, at the end of 2015 I decided to stop actively building that company.  

Now, I had a very nice residual income so jumping into something else didn’t make sense.  Remember, I am extremely loyal, I guess you could say to a fault.

So I semi “retired”.  I helped my active team, but I stopped building in the field.

It was around this time that leaders I had worked with that moved on to different companies started reaching out asking me for help/consulting on building marketing pages/funnels/systems for their teams.

So on accident I started doing some consulting and coaching.

A New Passion Is Born – Helping Others Master Online Network Marketing

During the next couple of years I was able to work with some amazing leaders, corporate companies, trainers and coaches, and even some non-MLM businesses.  I would help these create lead generation systems, marketing systems, and other online/digital related systems.

I didn’t realize it but I was uncovering a new passion – teaching others the rare skills that I had gained over all these years of marketing my Network Marketing business online.

And this is where the concept of Digital Networker came from.  

I love teaching Networkers that want to learn digital marketing skills.  I love it because they’re just like I was.  They come to me frustrated, sad, and sometimes ready to give up.  That’s just like I was.

Being able to give them some hope and then give them actual training and tools to make a positive step in their MLM business is extremely rewarding.  I love it!

So that’s the story behind Digital Networker.  My hope is that we get a chance to connect and talk.  I’d love to hear your story and if it makes sense, hopefully we can work together and get you on your journey to becoming a master at Digital Networking!!!

Sincerely,

Ben Sturtevant
Founder & CEO of DigitalNetworker.io