Some people join everything but accomplish nothing.
I guess if you don’t join the perfect company, at the perfect time, with the perfect product, have perfect luck and it isn’t perfectly easy, then you should just keep joining new companies until you find that perfect loch ness monster of opportunities… you know, the opportunity that doesn’t exist.
I saw this post today and it really to me to thinking about network marketing, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I can really relate. Many years ago, I had my first experience with network marketing when I was introduced to Shaklee. Being young and naïve, I jumped right in and expected to never work another day in my life. But guess what? My sponsors sold me on the idea of talking to friends and family and encouraging them to buy products and also to begin selling. Guess how many of my friends and family fell hook, line and sinker, like me? You’re right. Zero.
Well, after that disaster I swore off of that dream and went back to the real world of paycheck to paycheck. Next, many years later, my wife was introduced to Amway by her sister. She was so thrilled and several months later, I joined with her to achieve our family dreams. After several years of buying products, driving thousands of miles, attending expensive conventions several times a year, and having meeting after meeting, we had built a decent little business. Nothing that would replace our regular income, but nice side money. Then, the bubble burst. We discovered that all the money our upline had been making and promoting was coming from tool sales and not from Amway. We also discovered we had not been told the whole truth from the beginning. Thus, to remain at a certain level or personal integrity, we chose to step aside from the business so we would not be deceiving our team, our family, and our friends any longer.
We did follow our upline into a couple of other ventures, but that also should have been a big clue. Chasing a shiny object is never a good idea.
Transition to about 20 years later. I teamed up with a couple of marketing and branding experts so I could really learn how to market anything online with success. Through several months of learning, applying and following the “success leaves clues” strategy, I was positioning myself for that success that had eluded me for so many years. Then, late in 2019, Mike and Robyn, added an element to our marketing funnel. This was a company that was poised for critical mass, with great products, and a great marketing system built in. But, yes, a big but, it was a network marketing company.
With much reserve, I began researching why this opportunity might be different from all of my other experiences. First and foremost, I saw that I would not be dependent on getting rejection and eye rolling from my friends and family. You see, I was able to learn how to apply traditional marketing strategy that had been shared with me over the past year. I was able to learn by following my mentors that immediate financial success was not necessarily the answer for me. I learned that I wanted to achieve a financial legacy over the next several months and years. I learned patience as I applied these strategies.
Yes, my business is growing and beginning to thrive. No, I am not yet driving a fancy car, or traveling all the time. I am focused on the financial legacy for my family and how I can help others, through solid marketing, attain their goals. For those of you who do understand the basics of network marketing, I am now in a binary compensation plan. With immense help from my mentor and other upline, I now, after about 3 months, have one leg stable and solid with over 1400 affiliates and pre-enrollees in that one leg which is doing $50,000+ in product volume monthly. (most of which is on autoship). With that solid leg, I now am beginning to work mainly on my second leg where there are close to 100 affiliates and pre-enrollees. The second leg of course will not grow quite as quickly as my first, but my mentor and upline is there to ensure that it does grow at a steady pace.
I tell you this story not to promote me or my business. My goal is to encourage you to not give up on your only chance to leave a 9 to 5 for other’s profit. Network marketing is not a bad thing. It is the only answer for most individuals to have that shot of a financial legacy for their families. The scammers, the less than truth telling upline and companies, and the media bias do give network marketing a shadow that has to be overcome. But you know what? You can do it.
Find a legitimate company with a product you have a passion for that also has a great marketing system built in. But, above all, find a mentor and/or upline that has a system/strategy and knows how to help you succeed and that is willing to lead by example.
Here’s to your success. You can. You will.