Leaders, Not Bosses

We have a neighbour across the street who is in another network marketing company and is achieving what could be described as modest success. She sells personal grooming supplies on a regular basis, and has sponsored a few people into her downline, mostly those she has contacted in the course of retailing who became interested in the business.

This kind of effort definitely will not take her to the Diamond level anytime soon, and that's a problem for her sponsor. He has bought into the "go for the jugular" school of achievement and has decided to "motivate" her to achieve greater things.

His motivation consists of high-pressure calls trying to convince her to contact a large number of people each week, set high numerical goals for sales and sign-ups, and generally, to start doing the kinds of activities that would take her to Diamond in about two years.

The problem is, though, that he's trying to impose his own vision of success on her- "for her own good." She's actually very happy with what she's doing in the company, and is achieving her goals. What she wants to do is supplement the family income with with an effort that she can manage; given a husband who is not involved in the business, children, and her need to get some health problems resolved.

She's tried to tell him this but he won't take the hint. His time would be far better spent working with people who are at a stage in their lives where they do want to reach diamond quickly- or to get on the 'phone and find some if he doesn't have any now. He's losing her confidence, and if he treats everyone in his downline this way, he may become one of the network marketing failures we run into from time to time.

I can imagine him now at his first meeting in his new company. Talking about how in the old company you just couldn't get people to take it seriously, but with this hot new concept he will surely be able to build a downline that will blow through the roof!

The man's problem is glaringly obvious in the way I've described it to you, but why isn't it obvious to him? I'm sure it's because he has not yet grasped one of the most important concepts in network marketing.

Here's the concept:

Now that sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? It's only a single, short sentence! If it's really so simple, though, why do so many people in network marketing act as though they believe the opposite?

I'm sure that's because they haven't changed their paradigm- their worldview. And why would we? We are placed in schools, then colleges, and are indoctrinated for more than twelve years in what I call the "job mentality." Most of us come into network marketing from a "job" and take no more notice of our ideas about how to make an organization function than a fish notices the water he's swimming in.

We come from places where people are successful by forcing others to direct their activities toward the goals of an organization to a new world where the only way to be successful is to help others achieve their personal goals.

It took my wife and me months to learn this concept in the school of hard knocks, and when a trainer said almost those same words one evening, everything I'd been experiencing came together- I finally got it!

Applying this concept to our business has helped one hundred percent. Instead of "telling" our downline what they "should do," we "show" them what they "could achieve." That really just states the concept in a different way, doesn't it?

There are some very deep things to think about in that simple, nine-word sentence up there. Why not try this exercise? Cut this single-sentence concept out, yes, right out of the newsletter, and attach it to your bathroom mirror for a week. Read it each morning and think about it as you go about your day. See how many ways you can rephrase it, as in my example above. Most importantly, think about thought patterns you can change and specific activities you can perform this very week to turn from a boss into a leader. Then start doing it!

God bless you all, and best success!