Today’s lesson will be super effective and precise. Network marketing is the greatest profession in our free, capitalistic world that has no upstart risk. But this doesn’t mean it’s a “get-rich-quick” industry: no, “get-rich-quick” is a fairy tale.
To succeed you have to take your profession seriously, to commit yourself, to make sacrifices, and to be knowledgeable, just as you would do in any traditional business. The difference is that in network marketing you’ll reap the rewards to a higher level.
To be knowledgeable also means to be aware of the risks and of the problems you may encounter on the way, and thus to always stay one step ahead. These are the 10 most common mistakes that I recommend you to carefully avoid:
Number #1 – YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
Why have you started this business? The majority of people generally give answers like “to earn more”, “because I want to be rich”, “because I want a better life”, etc. Well, yes, that may be, but it’s too generic. Your answer should be more precise and measurable. Try thinking this way: “if time and money weren’t an issue, what would I enjoy doing, starting tomorrow?” Your answermight be “go on a safari in Africa”, “buy a new computer for my son”, “try that three-star rated Michelin restaurant”, etc. In this way, it’s much easier to define your objectives, because you can make a plan and check regularly how close or how far you are from achieving them.
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
-Steve Jobs-
Number #2 – YOU DON’T HAVE A METHOD
Starbucks is a giant in its industry, but do you think it’s because they have the best coffee in the world? Of course not. They just have a“turnkey”formula, simple, replicable in every corner of the world, and successful. It’s so easy to follow good examples, isn’t it? In your network marketing business it’s much better for you to rely on the already existing method, without reinventing everything from scratch.
Number #3 – YOU DON’T HAVE A MENTOR
It’s vital if you want to succeed in network marketing, as I have said elsewhere. Who is a mentor? It’s a person who is achieving great results in the same business, who inspires you and whomyou admire. This point is strictly related to the previous one: if your mentor follows a successful “turnkey” formula, stick to it.
Number #4 – YOU DON’T HAVE LEADERSHIP SKILLS
In network marketing the ability tomake real money is directly proportional to the influence you have on others. When you start working on yourself and, if you don’t master them yet, start developing leadership skills, you’ll see how smoothly things roll along. The more your ability to influence and guide the people on your team grows, the more your business thrives.
Number #5 – YOU BASE YOUR PRESENT ON YOUR PAST
How does the future look likeforthose who base their decisions on negative past experiences? Same as the past, of course. Their future mirrors their past.
The best thing to do is to learn from the past, and then leave it behind.
You must learn to live in the present, because the present is the only thing you can “control”.
Number #6 – YOU DON’T KNOW HOW THE BRAIN WORKS
We normally use only 10 to 20 percent of our brains. I’m sure you’ve heard this statistic lots of times. What’s more, 95% of people live in a state of “mental numbness”: most of the time people don’t know what they’re doing, because they do it on auto-pilot, stuck in a rut.
If you want to have different results, you must change the way you think today.
Our mind works in an easy circular way: yourBELIEFS affect your THOUGHTS, which affect your ACTIONS, which affect your RESULTS, which affect your BELIEFS. Over and over. All of these make up your MINDSET.
If you form positive beliefs about yourself, they will generate a pro-active mindset: positive beliefs will create positive thoughts, which will in turn lead to effective actions, which will get you similarly positive and effective outcomes. These outcomes will enhance your positive beliefs, and in particular yourSELF-ESTEEM. You can make it a vicious or virtuous circle: it’s up to you!
Number #7 – YOU DON’T HAVE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Network marketing is a business that will cause you up and down moments.
If you know how the human brain works (number #6), you won’t be overwhelmed by negative emotions, beliefs and thoughts, when something bad happens.
You’ll be in total control of emotions, and not at the mercy of events.
Number #8 – YOU BRAND YOUR COMPANY, NOT YOURSELF
When new people join network marketing, they usually base their choices on two elements: the product and the people. These are more important than the company. And, between the two, people are even more important than products.
At the end of the day, network marketing is a people business and people want to join people, not a logo of a company.
So, you must be a person whom people want to join, who inspire them with confidence, who makes them feel secure. You have to build strong relationship with people, giving valuable content, guiding them, tailoring everything you do and everything you say on each and every person.
Number #9 – YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO PROSPECT
The days of “calling-everyone- and-presenting-the-opportunity” are over. Prospecting everyone is a waste of time and far from effective.
What now pays is making questions and listening to people’s needs. Everyone of us has areas of stress and what people need most are solutions to their problems. If you present the concept of your business to someone who has revealed to you his/her problem –such as working too many hours, not spending enough time with family, having no time or money for vacations or no savings or extra money for investments–your opportunity is much more likely to be seen as the solution to his/her problem.
Number #10 – YOU’RE NOT AMBITIOUS, TEACHABLE, OPEN TO CHANGE
These are three key characteristics:
- Ambitious: ambition not only to make money, but also ambition to become a better person.
- Teachable: if you’re not ready to listen to your sponsor’s or your upline’s advice, you won’t achieve great results. Everything we do for the first timemakes us uncomfortable at the beginning, butthrough practice and repetition it gets easier and easier, and in the long run you’ll be able to teach it to your future downline. Again: why go on your own way, when you have a clear path ahead of you that others have already successfully traveled (number #2 method – number #3 mentor)?
- Open to change: if you’re not ready to change a life that doesn’t satisfy you, you’re destined to unhappiness. Why are so many people out there so unhappy with their lives? Becausethey don’t make the decision to change, they remain stuck to old and negative mindsets, frozen by fear. But not you: if you’re here reading these lines, it’s because you know what network marketing can do for you, and this is the first step towards change and a life worth living!
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
Henry Ford
