Success in business is neither magical or mystical. Success is the result of consistently applying a few proven and effective strategies on a daily basis to a carefully chosen venture. And that is what gets most network marketers and aspiring home-based business entrepreneurs into trouble... even the "heavy-hitters".
Ask any successful real estate investor the first law of creating wealth in real estate, and they will tell you, "Don't become emotionally attached to any property!" The moment you become emotionally attached to a property, your decision-making becomes clouded by those emotions, and your risk of losing money increases commensurately.
Both Eastern and Western philosophy and spirituality admonishes against attachments. Buddha Sakyamuni taught that attachment was the root cause of all suffering, and Jesus the Nazarene taught that true followers of his philosophy ought not worry about "burying the dead", but "leave all they own and follow".
It isn't the material possessions that cause the suffering, but the unyielding emotional attachment we place on them that causes trouble.
One friend of mine -- a guy who has been recognised the world over for his pioneering contributions to the network marketing industry -- got involved with a company some time ago, because he genuinely believed the three prominent owners, and the multi-billion dollar a year companies they represented, virtually assured the success of this new venture. All the red-flags were present from the onset:
- A company with an overpriced and extremely limited product range (two products)...
- A company employing one of the "binary-hybrid" compensation models (known and proven to be one of the most poorly designed compensation models in the industry, with no one but the company and a very small segment of the "top" people earning 97% of the income from sales generated)...
- A company whose corporate (executive management) was encouraging such unethical "deals" as offering "secret bonuses" to those who would move their groups over to simulate growth, and who were openly encouraging slick sales reps to "sell" positions for $20K, $30K, even $45K each (which is unquestionably unethical AND illegal in the United States and Canada)...
- A company with limited presence in the global market -- operating only in the United States and Canada...
- A company whose recent "convention highlights" include absolutely no "major announcements", enhancements to the business system, and offer nothing more than a five-minute "fluff" piece of "T&A", upbeat music and lots of money wasted on tuxes, black dresses and convention space.
Last month, that company, in which my friend and his son were "top producers" -- having generated more than $4 million in sales in the past ten months -- failed to pay him or his son, and dozens of their people, the commissions they were owed. That in turn caused my friend and his son to fail to keep their financial obligations to people like me, for services and training we provided their group.
I didn't hear a word from them for three weeks about the money they still owe me. But last week, my phone rang, and it was my friend, calling to pitch me on a new deal he was thinking about joining.
I knew that both my friend and his son, whom I have known since he was a teenager, desperately need to replace the income they've lost with their present company -- particularly since all the hype about a "revolutionary new nanotech product" recently released turned out to be nothing more than an overpriced knock-off of one of the great gel-nutriceutical products manufactured by the company whose (awful) compensation plan they already copied two years earlier. So much for breakthroughs, leadership and income potential.
But my friend is emotionally invested in this company. He's worried what will happen, when his downline realises that he and his son have been hiding the truth from them... that all of them were sold a "bill of goods" by their respective sponsors.
Now my friend is well aware of the fact that his downline are an exceptionally committed, success-oriented and personal-development focused group of people. And because of that, he knows that they could, in one week's time, move their entire teams into my primary business, where they could virtually ensure that every member of their team was earning a minimum of $4200 this month, while the producers earned incomes of $45K, $60K or more...
...And they could do all that while reducing the amount of money they are spending to "play the game" by 30% or more! In fact... every member of his team could STOP spending $165 to $235/month on overpriced autoship orders, and start a business that is positioned in a market segment in which there is no competition, for about $99/month... including all the websites, communications tools, marketing tools, software and other expenses needed to operate their business at maximum income potential.
But my friend will not tell his people that this option exists. He won't warn them that neither he nor his son were paid the money that was owed them. He won't tell them that they've all been taken advantage of. And so, eventually, their people will fail... their group will fall apart, and just as my friend has had to do at least four other times in his career... he will have to start over again.
"Oh, but my 'network' won't be interested in a personal development opportunity," he told me, as if he actually were inexperienced enough to believe that people get involved in a company because it's what they want to be doing! People get involved in network marketing companies for one reason -- to create an additional or replacement income. Period. My friend knows this. He's just worried that he's going to have to own up to having let a company take advantage of him, and so his emotional attachment (ego) is in the way of his making money.
He'll lose his home, cars and who knows what else this month, if he doesn't do something fast. But his emotional attachment are taking priority over his common sense. His son, who isn't making payments on his car (well, actually, it's not even his car, it's his father's car) will lose the car, and possibly their home as well. The son has dozens of "investors", who have been "taken" by being told to illegally invest in dozens or even HUNDREDS of positions, so that their team would APPEAR to be growing incredibly, are now faced with monthly autoships that they cannot afford to keep up.
The house of cards is about to fall... and yet, neither father nor son are willing to do the right thing, and save themselves and their teams from financial ruin.
I am not emotionally attached to any company. I am a business person. I invest time, money and effort into developing relationships -- not companies. In return, I am handsomely compensated for those efforts -- sometimes for years, other times for months. Occasionally, someone like my friends, will take advantage of my efforts, and will think they "got away" with not paying me. But the Law of Equivalent Exchange is always and everywhere in effect... they've already begun to lose much, much more than the money they failed to pay me.
If you are involved in a home business, you need to ask yourself if you are exercising sound business judgment, or allowing emotional attachments to cause you to suffer:
- If, after 90-days, your business is not paying you back a minimum of FIVE TIMES the amount of money you are investing in monthly operating expenses, autoship orders, website hosting, leads, and marketing costs... you are doing something wrong or in the wrong business.
- If, after 90-days, you have not been able to position yourself to maximise the profit potential of that business, without having to spend more than $25/week on your business to do so... you are doing something wrong, or in the wrong business.
- If your upline are still trying to convince you that "making lists", attending hotel meetings, or passing out expensive magazines, DVDs, or CDs is the way to succeed... or if they are trying to convince you that their viral-network of the week is the "answer" to your problems... you are in the wrong business.
Ask your upline for a simple, duplicable 30-day plan. You should be able to increase your income by a minimum of $900 this month, by finding no more than five serious marketing partners. Within four to six weeks, if your upline's strategy isn't one that can realistically put $2-$4K in your pocket -- without your having to spend more than $99 total (including your autoship, website, marketing expenses, and leads) -- then you need to find a different strategy or different company.
This is a business, folks... Don't let people play with your emotions! Don't fall for the hype and nonsense that has become popular among the inexperienced, which tries to convince folks that instead of selling products to the masses, they should focus on a business that sells $500 to $4000 "vapourware" (imaginary product) at a higher commission. Ask yourself, would you rather sell one out of every 700 people that come along, and know that what you are selling is without value or merit... or would you like to be like Ray Kroc, whose McDonalds' franchise sells billions of burgers to the masses?
In the time that it took to write this article, I sponsored two people in the business... how about you?
Live with passion --
Dr. G
Dr. Salvato can be reached at: successcoach@prosperityreinvented.comFind out more about his business opportunity by visiting:
http://prosperityreinvented.com/invitation
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For more than 27 years, pioneer in the field of entrepreneurism and emerging
Internet marketing technologies, Dr. F. Gianmichael Salvato, has focused on the
fundamentals of personal and business development, peak performance, and
wealthbuilding in the postmodern marketplace. Recognised as an innovator, and
called the "new mentor to the millionaires", Gianmichael has worked with such
notable mentors as Jim Rohn, Lawrence Thompson, Anthony Robbins, Louise L. Hay,
Dr. Kennedy Shultz and Dr. Jose Silva.
A noted Buddhist contemplative and teacher, Dr. Salvato has leveraged his achievements,
as consistently earning within the top-five percent of Network Marketing professionals
worldwide, using that income to fund programs for the homeless, the hungry, sick and
marginalised, as well as providing education and support to underprivileged communities
for more than 20 years.
Creator of the breakthrough approach Networking Reinvented® and developer of the
Prosperity Reinvented® workshop series, and co-founder of the Networking Reinvented®
Global Success Team, Gianmichael has shared his message with 3,400 audiences and more
than a million people. He continues to conduct seminars, dharma workshops and business
events throughout North and South America, the European Union and the Pac Rim, and resides
with his companion and partner, in a quiet, understated historic home in Downtown Lancaster,
Pennsylvania -- the oldest inland city in the United States.
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Copyright ©2008, Dr. F. Gianmichael Salvato, All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire blog, including by-lines, contact information and this copyright remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.
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