In my article The Most Misunderstood Market, I state that not everybody is born an entrepreneur. That doesn’t mean that you cannot learn to become one.
Most people start their network marketing business in the true belief that everybody they meet will immediately realise that this is the easiest way of making money on earth! Alas, if that was the case, everybody would have been doing it. The truth is that network marketing is hard work. Just like any other business.
Network Marketing is a people-centered business and the first person you will be forced to work with, will be yourself. Coming to terms with your willingness to learn and getting rid of your “know-it-all” attitude may be some of the challenges you will have to face. Will you be able to get going when the going gets tough? Can you work for delayed gratification? Can you distinguish between personal rejection and rejection of an offer? Some serious and honest introspection will be needed.
Hurdle one, overcome – now for “the other people”. They can really become a problem! When you start out on this journey, you might be confronted by people convinced that they have your best interest at heart. There will be well-meant warnings not to “do something stupid” (don’t worry, these people will eventually support you and brag about you). You might even encounter a few nasty comments. The list of objections is long: lazy, fearful, inconsistent, get-rich-quick-schemes, blaming, not resourceful, quitting, and so on and so on.
The most frustrating is that for a few generations we were taught to have a job mentality – get good grades, study, find a good job with good perks, retire and die. The reality is that these days, even those with good grades often cannot go to university. And even those with degrees, don’t always find good jobs. And those who are lucky enough to find good jobs with good perks are no longer certain of their jobs long-term. Eventually, even pensioners find out that the perks weren’t as good as they thought it would be. The only thing that still rings true is, we all die.
As soon as you realise that you should not rely on only one income stream, network marketing is still the safest way to create an extra income. The start-up cost is very low which makes it virtually risk free, a system is already in place into which you can tap, training is provided, you can do it flexi-time and the support is excellent. And you might end up among the 1% of the wealthiest people in the world. Something that network marketing has the bragging rights to!
Still, if you are not prepared to do what needs to be done to be successful in network marketing, don’t do it. Unless you realise it is only skills that can be learned. Adopt a Gary Player mentality: “The more I practice, the luckier I get” and network marketing can definitely be for you.
Till next time