The Lie of Network Marketing!

I feel compelled to address this enormous lie that exists within the network marketing industry.  It is the worst thing about our industry, and causes many people heartache, self-doubt and disillusionment.

 

What is the lie??  Here it is, brace yourself:  If you spend a modest amount of money to join a great network marketing company, and simply share it with your family and friends, within just a few weeks or months, you'll be earning a six-figure income!!

 

This is, in a word: poppycock!

 

When I talk to folks about Nerium International, and my dream to build a family of Brand Partners who work together to build an enormous business all around the world, many of them recoil in horror! Why would I get involved in such a thing?  After all, isn't it a "pyramid" scheme?  A scam? A no-win deal for all but the "few who got in early?"

 

Actually, no.  The real pyramid that I'm involved with is the company I own.  Yep. That's the one. The consulting firm that I own as a partner with my best friend of 30 years.  The two of us own the company.  We sit at the top.  All the employees are...well... below us in the corporate pyramid.  They can only rise as high as the company has space for them to move up, and their income is fairly well set by what my business partner and I decide to offer in salary, commissions, and bonuses.  They don't have the power inside our pyramid to write their own story, to determine the size of their own check.  It simply doesn't work like that in the world of jobs.

 

In relationship marketing (also known as network marketing, direct sales, MLM, etc.), you really do own all of the power.  You are the owner of your own business, master of your own destiny.  And the same thing that's the great thing about relationship marketing is also the worst thing about relationship marketing; which is to say: it's all up to YOU.

 

What if you make $50,000 in salary each year? Perhaps you're in your 30's, pretty early in your career. Maybe you're in your 50's and coming toward the end of your career.  However long you've been working, your income is maxed out, for the time being, at $50,000 each year (before taxes and insurance comes out). 

 

If I told you that you could build a part-time business that would generate $50,000 per year, but it would take you 5 years of consistent part-time effort to get there, would you stick it out?  It's not very sexy, I'll grant you. 

 

Which reminds me of the lie - someone, somewhere, might be telling you that a part-time business with their company will generate $50,000 in a matter of months.  Does that even make sense to you?  Doesn't it go against basic logic to have such a ridiculous expectation?

 

What if I told you that along the way to your "5 year plan" to generate a $50,000/year part-time income, you would look up at year FOUR, and only be about 18% of the way to your goal... 

 

Would you be mad at me? Would you quit and tell everyone you know that relationship marketing is a scam?  You did everything you were asked to do, and taught to do...for four years, and it didn't work at all?  You were only making about $10,000/year in part-time income, and you should be making at least $40,000?

 

If you've ever studied the miracle of compound interest, you might not quit at all.  You might be smart enough to know that the exponential growth, the miracle of the compounding effect, doesn't really kick in until the last few months before that 5th year...

 



 

Just look at the graph!!  I'm not suggesting a "100 Year Plan," obviously! But you can see here the compound growth jump makes a dramatic upturn just before year 80! 

 

In other words, you'll get 80% of the way into your plan before it LOOKS like something dramatic is occurring.

 

Do you have any idea how few people will stick with the system in their relationship marketing business until they reach critical growth at the 5-6 year point?? 

 

Only a tiny fraction of the people who start will ever finish.  The sad thing is, the overwhelming majority of the folks who quit lack the knowledge about how the compounding effect works.  It's too easy to blame the system, the product, the friends and family who say "No!" when you share your products and business opportunity with them.

 

And there's one other must know piece of information I want to share with you about being successful in the relationship marketing industry:

 

It's going to take time for you to learn what you're doing!

 

On average, you should expect to take at least a year to really understand what you're doing, and how to do it.  Once you have figured out what to do and how to do it, it will take another year for you to really get good at it. 

 

If someone comes along and tells you any differently - they are lying to you. Plain and simple.  When you start a new job, it's very much the same. Depending on the nature of the job, you may learn it faster, but it will take a period of time to get the basics; and then it will take an even longer period of time to master it and be very good at it.   Building a business with relationship marketing is no different than any other business or skill. It requires work, being teachable, practicing, learning by mistakes, and most of all: patience and persistence.

 

So for all the folks who think the idea of building a side business on a part-time business sounds like a cool idea, I salute you! You are correct, and it is a cool idea! It's a fantastic idea, actually.  Just be sure you don't fall for the lies. 

 

Don't believe it when someone says they offer an easy way to get rich quick.  Treat your business like a business.  Give it the same level of commitment you would if you had invest $500,000 in a burger franchise.  If you'll do the things required until you learn them well, can execute them well, and then can teach others to do the same, you will experience the financial and personal rewards of compound growth. I guarantee it.

 

If you'd like to learn more about why I chose Nerium International as the organization I partner with for my long-term commitment, visit my site at http://susiewhite1109.arealbreakthrough.com and watch the 2-minute video clip. I'd love to visit with you after you learn a little about us.