Succeeding At Network Marketing » failure

Course Correction

Alan — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:08:02 +0000

Because I think it is such a valuable lesson, I share with you today an excerpt from Jeff Olson’s book, The Slight Edge:

What’s the shortest path between two points? A straight line, right? Wrong. While that might be true in theory, it’s never true in reality. And reality is where you and I live – and where we succeed or fail.

Have you driven on any roads lately that are perfectly straight? Even when you’re on one of those interstates that seems like a long straight line to forever, do you hold the steering wheel perfectly still? Or do you move it back and forth, constantly correcting the direction the car is headed? That constant moving of the steering wheel is so familiar, it’s second nature, and you probably never think about it. But if you decided to hold the wheel rigidly in place, you’d be off the road, probably in less than a minute.

And in case you think that’s just a matter of engineering, or of imperfections in the road’s surface, this next example may come as a bit of a shock:

On its way to the moon, the miracle of modern engineering that is an Apollo rocket is actually on course only two or three percent of the time; for at least ninety-seven percent of the time it takes to get from the Earth to the moon, it’s off course. In a journey of nearly a quarter of a million miles, the vehicle is on track for only 7,500 miles … or to put it another way, for every half-hour the ship is in flight, it is on course for less than sixty seconds!

And it gets to the moon?! How is that possible?

Because modern space travel is a masterful example of the Slight Edge in action.

If this machine, one of the most sophisticated, expensive and finely calibrated pieces of technology ever devised was correcting its own off-course errors twenty-nine minutes out of every thirty, is it reasonable to expect that you could do better than that? And even if you were able to match the rocket’s degree of accuracy, you’d still be perfectly on target, on track and on course no more than ten days per year!

For anyone who lacks a grasp of the Slight Edge, being off course is something to be avoided at all costs. After all, if you’re off course, you’re failing, right? But those who understand the Slight Edge embrace Thomas Watson’s philosophy about failure. Here is a more extended version of what he said:

“Would you like me to give you the formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure … You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all … You can be discouraged by failure – or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success. On the other side of failure.” – Thomas J. Watson, Sr.

(end of excerpt)

It’s Important

This is not a perfect universe, nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

So, if something doesn’t go quite the way you planned, or you haven’t signed anyone up in weeks, or your last order got mixed up, or you have heard your comp plan explained 14 times and you still don’t get it, or your sponsor and his sponsor both just quit, don’t give up!!

“What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford

“Some people use failure as an excuse to give up, to become bitter, or cynical. Other people look at failure as an opportunity to revisit past decisions and to devise new strategies.” - Catherine Pulsifer, from Do Not Be Discouraged

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. – John Quincy Adams

Increase Your Chances

To learn more about how network marketing enhances your chances to succeed, check out Brilliant Compensation.

To learn how picking a company correctly increases your odds of success, go to www.AlansMLMTips.com and sign up for the “7 Days, 7 Insider Secrets” email newsletter.

Network Marketing – The Chicken or the Egg?

Alan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:14:03 +0000

The Books Say The Egg

It seems like every book I’ve read says you should begin your network marketing career in this fashion:

1) Find a great company with a wonderful product

2) Find an awesome sponsor within that company who can mentor you to success

3) Go to work with your sponsor

4) Learn the ropes

5) Make money while you learn

6) Find others to duplicate these steps

That would be the egg.

But The Chicken

Might look like this:

1) A friend or relative tells you about the company he’s working with

2) You sign up because you like the product or the company or your friend

3) You don’t know what to do and neither does the person who signed you up

4) You tell a few people about it and nobody else is interested

5) You quit

Or maybe like this, which it did for me:

1) My brother tells me about the company he’s working with

2) I sign up

3) With the help of my brother’s sponsor, I sign up someone

4) That person makes several sales

5) I get excited and try to repeat steps 3 & 4

6) Number 3 runs out of warm market to talk to and loses interest

7) I move on to another job and while not losing interest, don’t network market for several years

8) I read books, I start and run my own traditional business

9) I sign up for another network marketing company and fail

10) I keep running my business

11) I read more books

12) Etc.

The Reality

I’m guessing that most people reading blogs about network marketing or home businesses or work from home jobs have experienced some version of the chicken scenario; jumping in and trying to figure it out.

The ones who persist through the failures and keep learning eventually discover that there is a reason most books give you the first version, i.e. the egg: you increase your chances of success by doing things in that sequence.

It doesn’t mean the chicken is wrong, or the pig or the cow or the bull moose; if you keep your eye on the goal, you’re going to get there. (For more on the goal, see my earlier post “Why, Oh Why.”)

I want to help you speed up the process.

What Do I Do If I’m already A Chicken?

Keep going! The only thing that can stop you is if you quit. If you know where you want to go, you can get there. As Jim Rohn once said, “working hard on your job makes you a living, working hard on yourself makes you a fortune.”

The difference between the first chicken who gave up and the second chicken (me) is that I didn’t give up. I kept working on myself, reading books, finding mentors, etc.

If you’re already in a company and you’re happy with the products but not so much with your sponsor, find a mentor, read a book, learn how to talk to people. Develop the skills and attitudes you need to attract people into your life, whether mentors, teachers, or business partners.

What If My Company or Product Isn’t So Great?

Hey, it happens. The initial hype can generate enthusiasm for a company or a product that isn’t that good. Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water! Find a better company/product and go to work.

Not only will your attitude be better, your honesty with yourself and your prospects will improve and so will your results.

For more info on how to pick a company or a product, see my post called Five Things To Evaluate, or go to www.AlansMLMTips.com for free emails on how to pick them like a pro.

Another Quote

“Would you like me to give you a formula for… success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all… you can be discouraged by failure / or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success. On the far side.” – Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM