Joining a networking company is in a sense a sort of marriage. My belief is that you should plan a long term relationship with the company you join since you will undoubtedly have to invest a lot of time and effort in developing a sizeable organization if you desire large financial rewards. For this reason, I personally believe that you should plan to join a company for life (like a marriage) rather than fall into the "MLM junkie" syndrome of "sleeping around" by hopping from company to company in search of the perfect mate.
In my last article I wrote about my "divorce" from the first company I joined. As a human being I tend to have faults and make mistakes no matter how perfect my self-image might be. (grin) My first attempt at network maketing simply didn't work out. I could probably write a book on all the reasons why, but to make a long story short it was just not meant to be. I was uncomfortable trying to force the relationship to work, and although it was a great company...one of the best...it just simply wasn't a match for me.
As I said in my last article, I did quite a bit of investigation into the industry during my "divorce" and prior to my subsequent "re-marriage". Too many people in this industry are blind to what is going on outside their own opportunity. (That is why this newsletter is such a valuable tool!) This is a business and you need to have some information and knowledge about your competitors in order to be competitive yourself. I said before that I went in blind on my first try. I didn't know anything about the industry, and my only exposure to it was through the views of the company I was involved with which is undoubtedly a biased opinion. Fortunately, I lucked into a pretty good company. It could have been much worse. I didn't get burned like thousands of others who are now anti-networking due to their experience.
After getting some experience with my first company and doing some research into what was available in the rest of the industry, I was in a much better position to make a good decision on the second "marriage". I had studied the different types of maketing plans -- essentially breakaway vs. matrix and the assorted variations on the theme, and I knew what appealed to me. I knew what types of products I wanted to be involved with according to what was happening in marketplace. I understood what type of company mission statement, philosophy, and ethics I was interested in. I also knew what kind of support system and business approach to the general public I was comfortable with. Perhaps my biggest revelation was that other people often have very different needs and desires in what they are looking for in a company, and their wants and needs may be opposite or in conflict with what I want. This gave me a whole new outlook when prospecting for potential business associates.
To make a long story short I found a company that met my needs. I'm much more comfortable with my decision because I made it based on facts, experience, research, and common sense. After being in this industry for 4 years I have learned that most people make their decision on emotion or by happenstance. Emotion is much more powerful than logic, but it is also much less reliable. Even if you get someone interested and involved in your opportunity based on emotion you will have to appeal to their logic to keep them involved once the emotion dies down. Logic is long term...emotion is ephemeral.
Today I do my best to stay informed about the networking/direct sales industry. Although I'm still not financially independent from my networking business, I know that one day I will be. I'm confident that I've made the right choice. I also encourage people to go through the same process I did of questioning what you are doing if you aren't sure about it. I applaud people who stick it out with the company they join and make it to the level of success they aspire to. However, I also feel that thousands of people are out there plodding along submitting to failure because they are in the wrong program for their needs. They are uninformed about the industry and need to get current with what is happening in the marketplace. I pitty the "MLM junkie". Just like any other addict they need help. They are in search of happiness and wealth that they will never find until they evaluate what they want, what they are willing to do to get it, and what vehicle will realistically get them there. The majority of these people are doomed to repeat past mistakes because they are unwilling to learn from them.
"Re-marriage" in my case did not fix or alleviate most of the barriers to my success. If it is to be it is still up to me, but at least now I am more confident in what I have to offer. I am logically and emotionally committed to my new company. Changing companies for me was a very emotional situation, but I finally had to ignore the emotions and make the right business decision. Unlike a real marriage, network marketing IS a business. With my new company I finally discovered the confidence, excitement, fun, profits, and ejoyment of working with a company that I am compatible with; however, I still have "feelings" for my old company. I learned a lot from my old company, and it is still an opportunity I'd recommend to anyone -- after I told them about my new company, of course!
I'd welcome any personal email on this topic, but I would especially be interested in people sharing their experiences by submitting articles to this fine newsletter. (Remember to keep it generic...leave the specific company references for personal email communication.) I'm always looking for additional information and more than willing to share what I know. Hopefully others can learn from my mistakes and experience rather than having to start from scratch themselves.
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." -Peter Drucker
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