Excited, Scared, Confused (big time), Depressed, Ready to Quit, Overjoyed (I actually made some Money!!!), and Hopeful
I experienced all these feelings and more during my first year as a network marketer. I think there were times when I had all these feelings in a single day. Like most new businesses there are days you love and days you wish you were back in kindergarten where the biggest decision you had was playing trucks or kickball.
Now that I can look back at that first year I can smile about the struggles and tough days and chalk them up to experience. Without the hard days I wouldn’t have ever learned what I know now.
If you are just starting out, realize there will be good days and bad. Don’t take it personal. It’s business.
Head the words of the great Commander Peter Quincy Taggert (Galaxy Quest), “Never give up, Never Surrender!”
Maybe reading about some of my experiences will help you to see that you are not alone
“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.”
Its fun
For me, Network Marketing and working from home is a great job. Everyday is different. I might be writing an article, setting up a squidoo page, working with my team members or meeting someone new. If I need to take off and go to my children’s school I can do it. I get to surprise them and meet them for lunch. Part of my job is being social and networking with people. Making new friends, people that have interests like mine. THAT’S MY JOB. How can that not be fun?!? In one day I might have interactions with people from all over the United States. I even have been contacted by people from around the world – from Canada, Australia, Brazil and Malaysia to name a few.
When I am not working directly with customers or team members, I might be creating new training and informational products to help them out. I have taken my Network Marketing Online and for me that is the best way to go. I love it. I love everything about the internet and using technology to create and to help.
I was a High School teacher before doing this so learning, teaching and helping others to achieve their true potential have always been things I enjoy. Throw in a little technology and I am in Heaven.
So is Network Marketing Fun? Yeah it really is.
I think SpongeBob put it best -
F – is for Fun when we do things together
U – is for you and me
N – is for N E (any) time and N E where here in the deep blue sea.
Challenging
When I was a Network Marketing wannabe I remember reading several articles about how this was a great business. Everyone can do it. You will have people lining up at your door to be on your team and use your products. With such an unbelievable opportunity how could any sane person pass it up?
Well I soon found out that it’s a little harder than that. It was a challenge to follow the ‘old school’ plans and make the business work. It has worked for some and it might work for you, but my challenge was to find a new way.
Learning something new and creating change are always challenges. But when you have some success it seems just that much sweeter to have earned it. It feels great to rise up to a challenge and overcome it.
Never be afraid to try and then fail. Don’t waste your energy trying to avoid or cover up failure. Instead, learn from your failures and go on the next challenge. Its OK to fail, Your growth can be measured by the failures you have overcome.
Challenges give us the opportunity to learn and achieve more. I know when I see somebody do something that I want to do I enjoy the challenge of learning how to do it and then finally succeeding. It is a great feeling to step back and look at something you have done and know that you did it. You overcame the fear and the hard work and you DID IT!
General George Patton had it right when he said “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”
More difficult than it is made to sound
Listen to the hype about Network Marketing and, like me, you will get the impression that by the end of the week you will be financially secure and working on the beach. Well let me tell you I am not yet working on the beach and honestly if I could make it to the beach I wouldn’t want to be WORKING!
However, once the initial exhilaration of having started a business wears off and you realize that this is still a job and work is required and money doesn’t grow on trees then the true education takes place. There is a lot to learn about starting a business and it is no different for Network Marketing.
If you are like me and already had a full time job and this was your way out of that job then honestly you can expect it to take you a month or two before you are really feeling like you are achieving anything. Just getting set up and doing the little things like getting business cards and setting up a bank account can take up time. For a part time person that might be your weeks work right there.
All I am trying to say is that you have to be realistic. It is said that 95% of people who start a Network Marketing business fail. I don’t think that is entirely true. A majority of these people just QUIT! After a month or two they decide that since they aren’t making a few thousand dollars by now then it just isn’t worth it. But honestly if they look at what they have done – maybe talked with a few friends and bothered their Mom and brother and sister and an Aunt and then sat back discouraged because only 1 person even said maybe and the rest said NO – then they should realize they haven’t really done anything they should get paid for.
It takes time to build a business – Any Business. If you are starting a job that is brand new and the skills needed are foreign to you then expect it to take even more time because you will be spending a lot of your effort just training and learning.
But the best part about Network Marketing, the time and effort you put in now can and will still be making you money years from now. It’s all in the power of leveraging.
If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.”
Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open to you.”
Robert Kiyosaki
Easier than you think
Once you get over the fact that it is a job and, for me and most of you, a brand new way of doing things and a whole new skill set to learn, you will find that it really isn’t that tough. Like I said earlier it is really kind of fun.
If you can read, write about what you know and have learned and be willing to talk to people and help them then you are ready to go. With the help of a good upline and/or coach you can learn to put those skills to work attracting people to you and either your business opportunity or your product.
For me the internet has always been fascinating and I love the fact that I can use it to build my business. It is actually the greatest tool you can have as a Network Marketer. The entire Network Marketing structure is going through a huge growth phase because of the internet so I started my business at the perfect time and you have the opportunity to do the same.
With the right coaching, you can be up and running and attracting people to you in no time.
A couple of quick reminders about moving forward and making things work…
- Be realistic and honest with yourself. Look at your skills and your time commitment and understand that if you are lacking at either it won’t stop you from achieving success it will only slow it down. But a better job and future is worth the extra time and effort.
- Always remember it’s a business and don’t take things personally. Not everyone who talks to you will become part of your business. Everyone is different and the timing as well as the personality have to fit in order for this business model to seem like the way to go.
“So many of our DREAMS at first seem Impossible, then they seem Improbable, and then when we Summon the Will, they soon become Inevitable.”
A struggle until …
For me personally Network Marketing became a struggle after the first few months. I went into the business with the intent of just helping out my Mom but soon found that it was something I truly enjoyed. I liked the new learning and creating new content for the internet, but I really didn’t understand what I was working towards or how to get there.
Once I got over the initial excitement and newness, I noticed I really wasn’t getting any results. I was doing lots of things and keeping myself very busy but I really wasn’t generating any success. I went into the frustration mode that many network marketers go through.
However, the reading and learning I had done when I started out had made me into a true believer of the Network Marketing Model. I knew that if done right I could achieve the success I wanted.
So, Network Marketing was a struggle for me like it is for most people starting out. You must find what works for you and be committed to staying with your plan. It is what separates the people who quit (what most would call fail) and the people who succeed.
The other thing I have found that separates those that fail from those that succeed is a good mentor or coach. No matter when your frustration and struggling phase might hit it is almost guaranteed that it will raise its ugly head. A coach can get you to a point where you might skip this phase or at least minimize it and a coach can get you on the path to success much more quickly than you could probably do yourself.
Finding the right training definitely helped me get over the hump and on the downhill slide to success.
“If you always do what you’ve always done… you’ll always have what you’ve always had.”
The Internet makes it a whole new ballgame
The training I found was training on how to use the internet to attract people to you. Whether it is used to attract them to your business opportunity (your downline) or to your companies products, the internet has changed how Network Marketing is done.
The old method of MLM can pretty much be boiled down into one statement.
Chase down and talk to everyone you know and come within arms length of and try to sell them on either your business opportunity or your product or both.
This is a very hit and miss approach and it produces tons of FAILURE. Like selling sand to those living in the desert, it’s hard to find very many customers who are excited about your opportunity.
The new method of MLM and Network Marketing on the other hand can be boiled down to this.
By giving value through content that comes from our knowledge and expertise, we can attract those searching for solutions to their problems. The Internet allows you to make what you are offering available to huge numbers of people.
To revisit our example, now people who live where there is only dirt will find you and your knowledge of sand and want your opportunity.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that I found in my search. Now putting it all together and understanding how to use the tools of the Internet is what has helped me to go from a 1st year Network Marketing Newbie to a veteran Network Marketer ready to help others get over their hump and achieve their goals.
My first year: scary, frustrating, overwhelming and exciting and I believe a very necessary step towards truly learning the power of Network Marketing.
If you are ready to get started on your Network Marketing Journey or maybe you are perpetually stuck in this first year mode, I am here to help you. I have learned through practice and experience that this is a job that requires work. Anything worthwhile does.
However, anyone who really understands what Network Marketing is and has the commitment to pursue it can be successful. Let me know how I can help you.
“By working together, pooling our resources and building on our strengths, we can accomplish great things.”