The Lifestyle of the Future

Last weekend we went looking at new houses. It has been about 3 years since we've been out house hunting, and after looking at several model homes, something immediately became apparent.

Home offices. All the model homes we looked at had a room that was specifically designed as a home office. Earlier in the week, at my daughter's birthday party, I was chatting with the mother of one of her friends. This lady's husband worked for one of the largest corporations in the country, a company that employs thousands of people in the local area. And she was telling me that her husband was now working 3 days a week at home. My cousin's husband, who works for the same company in another city, recently had a truck show up in front of his house. This truck dropped off a desk and computer, and he was informed that, from now on, his office was at home.

Last fall, when I moved my office to my home, I was amazed at the number of people who, when they heard what I was doing, told me of all the other people they knew who had done the same thing.

Even large corporations are realizing the inefficiency of having people spend 45 minutes to an hour and a half in traffic, twice a day, just to get to an office where they'll sit in front of a computer and talk on a telephone, things they could just as easily do anywhere in the world. The need to group people together in offices and workshops is diminishing. The technologies of the fax machine, the telephone, the computer and the Internet are beginning to have a major impact on our lifestyle.

Right now I'm away from my office, sitting in our condo overlooking Lake LBJ, near the Texas hill country town of Marble Falls. Tonight we went for a boat ride, then the children swam off the dock, we had a nice dinner of chicken enchiladas. The kids went to bed, and now I've gone to work. But I didn't have to drive an hour and a half back into Austin. I simply pulled my PowerBook out of its carrying case, plugged into the phone line, and downloaded my email. Even though I'm nowhere near my office, it's business as usual. I'll work late tonight and get everything done, and then will be free to ski and enjoy the hundred degree weather tomorrow.

And the beautiful thing is, I could be anywhere. On the beach at Maui, in the mountains of New Mexico, or even in the Outback of Australia. Wherever there's a phone line and a little electricity (even 12 volts will do), I'm in business.

This kind of thing is a major trend, and network marketers are on the leading edge of it. Ours is a true information business. Sure, there are physical products that get moved through physical space. But that is not our job. Our job is to move information. And with the incredible technical tools at our disposal, it really doesn't matter where we are when we do it. We don't have to conform to anyone else's schedule. We can work when we want, where we want.

When you're in a situation like that, the lines between "work" and "play" begin to blur. Given the right circumstances, work is play and play is work. When I pull up to the fuel dock in the ski boat, and do an "interest check" on the guy pumping the gas, am I working or am I playing?

We have deeply ingrained attitudes about work and play. There's a lot of guilt built in to this subject. The old fashioned "work ethic" carries some outdated baggage with it, in that we often feel guilty when we're enjoying ourselves, even if we are accomplishing something that would normally be considered work. Deep inside, something tells us that if we're enjoying it so much, we need to feel guilty. This feeling of guilt works against us, however. Because people are their most productive precisely when they're doing the things they enjoy.

You know, sometimes I think I try too hard. I've heard it in training, and I know you've heard it, too. Make this a fun business, they say. You know, I've never really bought into that. Oh, sure, I want to have fun just as much as the next person, but I never really understood the necessity of it in the network marketing business.

But I'm coming around.

It's strange, but when you let your hair down a little bit and have some fun, things just seem to flow your way. When you take things seriously and try hard to look for prospects, you never seem to come across any. But when you simply go out and have fun, they just seem to drop into your lap. People open up more when they're having a good time, and if you are prepared for that, if you handle it the right way, you can really get a good relationship going with them.

I think the whole secret is in not trying to hard. Not trying to look for people, just enjoying the people that come along. Not trying to do a sales job, just engaging in conversation.

It is so easy to say and so difficult to do. Make people take it from you. Don't push your products or opportunity. Just talk about them. We've been sold to all our lives, and when we're faced with the prospect of selling something we have a tendency to put on the "sales persona." We try too hard to convince. But this is not a convincing business. It is a sorting business. Beyond that, the hard sell convincing techniques just don't work as well as the no-sell informing techniques.

You need to find a company that has products you can live with. By live with, I mean integrate them into your everyday life. Use them in front of people. Don't even talk about them, just use them while people are watching. If someone is interested, they're going to ask you about what you're doing. Just like someone would ask about a unique watch, or your new video camera, or the imported beer you're drinking. If you consume it in front of someone, it will start a conversation. That's the best way to "sell" your products.

When you get people interested in the products, it is just a short step to the opportunity. Just say that you can get it wholesale. That's the easiest way into the opportunity. That's all anyone needs to know at first. If people sign up and start using the products, the opportunity, for the most part, will become very self-evident.

In many cases, you'll find successful networkers who've been in the business 2 years or more, who had their highest volume in their first month. Why is this? Because in the first month, they've had no training. They haven't become slick salespeople. They don't know all the answers -- they may not know any of the answers. But they've found a product and a business they're excited about. As they talk about it, their excitement shows through, and infects other people, who can't help but get involved. If only we could bottle that excitement and use it month after month.

But what do we do instead? We hold trainings, and advanced trainings, and super duper power weekends. We learn every detail about the business and about how to be a professional networker. And while it is intellectually and motivationally stimulating to know and appreciate all this stuff, it dampens that fresh excitement we have for the business. It makes us more jaded, more cool, more professional and less effective.

The best way to do this business is to do life. Let the network marketing company worry about all the details. That's what they're there for. Just have fun, participate.

Think about how great it is to go on vacation, maybe to the beach. You're really "up", you're happy, open to new experiences, positive, talkative, fun to be around, looking to have a good time. Now think about going to work. You're tired, wish you could be somewhere else, crabby, looking for someone to blame, anxious to get out of there. Which "you" do you think would be a more effective network marketer?

Imagine how effective you could be as a networker if you were always on vacation. Now imagine how you could always be on vacation if you were a very effective networker. It is a wonderful uphill spiral. The more fun you have, the more effective you are. The more effective you are, the more fun you can have. It feeds on itself.

And it all starts with your attitude. Maybe your reality is such that you can't take off for the beach every week. Not many people can. Anyone, however, can go there in their mind. You can develop the vacation attitude wherever you are, whenever you want. Your attitude is controlled by you, not by external powers. You have the power to make it more effective.

Zig Ziglar says that we're most effective in our job on the day before we leave for vacation. And he recommends that we wake up each day with that attitude. As networkers, we can take that one step further and actually develop the attitude of being on vacation and having fun, full-time. Just imagine all the people that will be attracted to you if you can pull that off.