Copyright © 2008 by Sue Seward. All Rights Reserved.
Network Marketing is a business just like any other business. And it’s a serious business when you treat it as such. Of course many people still do not understand this and it's treated more like a hobby.
Just think if you started your own traditional business. You’d work your butt off wouldn’t you?
You’d spend a lot of money, hire employees in most cases, deal with a lot of various taxes, a lease, stocking store shelves depending on the type of business.
Or you’d have a professional business like dentist, doctor, chiropractor, attorney, CPA, etc. and work yourself to death, having all of the above and if you don’t see patients or clients what happens?
Your income stops!
So what’s the difference in owning a Network marketing business? You have expenses just like ANY other business. Only a Network Marketing business is more like a ‘B’ business where you are an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs sometimes work for years with none or not much pay. Once it’s built though it pays you for a lifetime because it's passive income. That's income that flows into your bank account from something you did previously.
In fact, Robert Kiyosaki recommends it as the perfect ‘B’ business. That means it is on the RIGHT side of the quadrant. The ‘E’ & ‘S’ (Employee & Self-Employee) are both on the left side and there's nothing wrong with those quadrants. We just choose to be on the right side and there are many reason’s for that.
(If you've read ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ or listened to ‘The Perfect Business’ CD, you know what this means).
If you have not read it yet and you are planning to become successful in ANY business I highly recommending reading this book and all of his books and CD’s to start the educational process of increasing financial IQ.
The difference with a ‘B’ business in Network Marketing is - there are some advantages that a traditional ‘S’ and other ‘B’ businesses do not provide. One of those really crucial advantages is something called – LEVERAGE!
I'm going to give you a real life example and it's based on my own experience so when your spouse - who may not understand what you are doing or WHY you are working this type of business or they think you are wasting your time working this kind of business, questions you because perhaps they are coming from the 'E' or 'S' side of the quadrant.
Remember, 'E' stands for Employee and 'S' stands for Self-Employed.
If your spouse is not on the same page and is against learning about this - they could (usually it's not really intentional, they just are not educated and many people who come into Network Marketing are not either) they may not understand and become frustrated with what you are doing and why. Many people who get into Network Marketing become frustrated too because they do not understand this concept and they also are not very good with delayed gratification. Sound familiar?
Especially if they are coming from the 'E' and you are spending money to run your business and perhaps there's no money or not a lot of money coming in yet, so they are questioning - why don’t you just get a job? This also happened with Robert & Kim as they started on their journey to start a 'B' business so you are not alone!
Or perhaps you already have an ‘S’ business so your spouse is asking, “why don’t you just work your ‘S’ business harder or start another ‘S’ business?”
This is usually because again they do not understand the concept of LEVERAGE and they usually do not understand Network Marketing. Or perhaps you have been working in Network Marketing for years and you have not seen much success or have had very little success and they think here we go again, with another deal that is not going to work and questioning constantly why are you pouring more money into that MLM deal?
One of the very true reasons for my success is because I have always had the support of my spouse. Even though he was frustrated in the beginning for several years with the money going out - all the time I spent in my office - on the phone and NOT with him or the kids and the frustrations he saw me go through, he still believed in me and in what I was doing for us.
I took him to events back in those early days so he was around my mentors and saw the company and knew of the possibilities. Having his support was the first step.
In fact, if you have any family members cutting you down for what you do it will be tough to overcome. My immediate family never supported me and they made fun of my Network Marketing business for years. (a distant memory now of course but I remember those days!) Listen to Kim Klaver’s stuff on this! I used to listen to her stuff back then about the family poking fun! Wasn't fun to go through then but I just let it roll off my back at the time because I knew I was on a mission and knew WHY!
Robert Kiyosaki also wrote an article on this called 'What Will My Friends Think' and you can read that article on a new MLM training website I’m building at http://www.MLM-Online-Marketing-Coach.com
It’s CRUCIAL to your success though that you do have the support of your spouse in any business, so if you don’t have it, it could become a struggle. Because in reality you live with your spouse day in and day out and not with your immediate family so it's hard to shut out your spouse and any negative comments they make.
On the other hand, if you happen to have a spouse that is controlling and demands that you do what they say, you most likely won’t make it in ANY business. That’s kind of like having a boss isn’t it? This is just a fact. Over the years though I’ve seen it happen many times. This is something that I cannot help you with because I’m not a marriage counselor.
In fact, this is exactly why when I speak with people about starting their business I find out right up front - will they be working their business with their spouse and if not, do they have their spouses support? This is a very important question to ask. I’m also learning from Robert & Kim on how important it is to work as a partnership and putting your financial PLAN together as a team.
My husband has been supportive of my business and career for eleven years. Actually more like 18 years since I started dabbling in MLM back in 1988 so he’s seen me fail and make mistakes for many years while working on myself and creating a business for our family’s future! (our plan has always been to bring him into the business and we have no doubt that is going to happen soon and would be now if not for some new opportunities that we decided to give our son at this time so we’ve put our plans on hold some. This is what happens when you wait until you are 40 to have your second child!!!).
Now my husband dances a jig because here's what's happened over the last eleven years as he has seen my development over the years.
I have managed to create not only a credible career where if something happened to him I would be ok and have become independent not only FINANCIALLY – also EMOTIONALLY independent and confident and know that I can do anything! If something happened to my company I know I have the skills and experience to start a new business. I have connections and I have leverage.
Eleven years ago I had NO income of my own and no career. No connections, no leverage and NO confidence.
I was a stay at home mom and being a mom doesn’t pay to well, at least not monetarily! I could take a job now because I do have skills that I learned in NETWORK MARKETING. However I do NOT want a JOB! I do not want anyone telling me what to do, when to do it, how much income I can make, or how high to jump! I’m not interested in building someone else’s business or their dreams! I did this for freedom - not to have to end up working again for someone else just because something was to happen to my spouse!
So let's discuss leverage -
Last year was a very tough year for us - We decided to give our son the opportunity to come to Austin to play level 1 tennis which is a fantastic opportunity for him but it’s also a very expensive endeavor that really threw a wrench into our plans. My income had finally grown and we were even able to buy an investment property at Lake Travis and things were great! We had money to spare and invest and our plans were set to retire my husband.
Then this opportunity came up and we decided to move me and my son to Austin. So from March to summer, (July) I was in transition mode moving us. I did not work on my business much. I did however delegate a lot of leads and sign ups to leaders. These are partners that I had brought into my business from January through July.
Then in August I started getting sick. I became extremely ill up until December and was barely able to work. There was a five month period where I could hardly function at all some days and sponsored only a few people myself personally.
All of my contacts and leads went to other leaders and they sponsored them and my business continued to build because of my ability to recognize that I was not able to do this all myself and if I was not able to delegate to these leaders that I had in place I could lose some of the momentum that was starting to happen!
We made Director in our company in September so something was done right. It was an all out team effort. Again leveraging other people’s time and money!
I ended up making over 6 figures in passive income last year when all I did was really work about half the year with not to much effort at all. NOTHING like I did in those first four years in late 1996 – 2001 where I worked extremely hard online day in and day out, barely taking a day off, in fact, never taking a day off! Then from 2001-2007 I was also working and making connections and networking and developing myself and the business.
I went to every convention and was on every conference call I could get on. I would even leave my son's band concert in the middle of the concert to go on a conference call. Now I never do that because I have paid the dues and have earned that luxury! I had to learn to say NO to some fun back then to get where I am now! Do what others won't do so that you can do later what others won't be able to!
Now.....when I got sick....
What would have happened if I had a traditional JOB?
YOU'RE FIRED!
What would have happened if I had an 'S' business?
I would have most likely lost all of my clients; business would be shut down, closed doors, bankrupt!
What would have happened if I was ONLY retailing products?
I would have been BROKE!
All of that income was earned because of work I did in the years previous. It took hard work in those early years! It took sacrifice, commitment, determination, courage, desire, long hours, not spending time with my family and friends, and it took putting time and MONEY into my business just like ANY business does, took support from my husband and kids and it took a never giving up attitude.
It also took getting through a lot of rejection, disappointment, discouragement, walking on hot coals, through the refining fire, people telling me one thing and doing another, failures, mistakes, spending money we didn’t have, taking risk, losing money. Donald Trump lost millions and then made it all back. Kioysaki was a million dollars in debt and he never once filed bankruptcy. He pulled himself out of it. Now I have not lost millions in Network Marketing that’s for sure.
When people complain to me that they have to spend $100 for this or $500 to start a business or that they don’t have money for a website, and on and on and on with constant complaining every time they have to put money into their business, this tells me they are not thinking like a ‘B’ quadrant person.
If they have the desire for more in their life and and want to move to the right side of the quadrant and develop a ‘B’ business and become a part of the rich (the 2% club we call it) they have to DECIDE to change their mind-set first and begin to think differently. This is where it all starts with a shift in ‘MIND-SET’..
If someone is not willing to do this I would recommend that they stay in the ‘E’ quadrant which they may have to settle for the rest of their life and do what someone else tells them. This is also IF they don't get laid off, downsized, or fired or become sick and lose their job.
Sometimes people take the victim mentality and settle for whatever comes their way.
Being in business is not for everyone and not everyone will have what it takes to become successful.
I also do not recommend they quit their ‘E’ or ‘S’ job or business and instead incorporate a ‘B’ into that and eventually they can shift things. This is what we are doing with my husband's 'E' job. His job provides our family a very sizable paycheck that we are NOT going to let go of so that we can leverage that income a bit longer.
You can learn more about this in Robert’s training.
Now I have the luxury of spending time when I want with family and friends and do what I want. I had to give up some things up front though to get here. Putting the cart before the horse though isn’t going to work to well. Everyone wants their cake and eat it too and that’s not how things work.
Now that we have bigger dreams and goals to get to a million dollar earner it’s taking a different mind-set shift on my part of learning and growing. It’s going to take some more work, time and money and a bit more sacrifice especially now that we've given our son this opportunity and we are going to all grow together!
The thing is I’ve developed myself into a solid leader with leverage now so that I can work on some things and leverage other people’s time and money at the same time while moving onward to some new exciting goals helping and training people on this same concept so that they achieve their goals and dreams.
This is about long term delayed gratification - which is what ultimately will determine your success! It’s about being patient and being able to conquer your fears and moving through the fires by constantly developing yourself with learning and growing and becoming a stronger person and developing into a leader because leaders are the ones that earn the big incomes.
Like I said you don't earn the big income FIRST and then become the leader. It's the other way around.
It all boils down to how much do you really want it?
How important really is your freedom to you?
If you lost your job today what would happen?
If you got SICK and could not run your 'S' business what would happen? Would it keep running without you?
Or if you got sick and could not sell your products what would happen to your cash flow? The rich build passive income streams.
What if something happened to your spouse or they lost THEIR job or their business?
Think about those things for awhile and ask them of your spouse? See if they are open to becoming educated on YOUR business and what it is that you really do and what owning a Network Marketing ‘B’ business will really mean for you and your family’s future..
My husband is now listening to the Robert Kiyosaki CD's that I just finished listening to called 'You Can Choose To Be Rich'.
There are 12 CD's in that series on learning about business, on improving your Financial IQ, real estate investment, understanding the different quadrants and how to start various businesses and which one is best to start – such as taking over a traditional business, buying a franchise, starting a business from scratch or starting a Network Marketing business and the pros and cons of all of those options.
He wants to be on the same page BECAUSE we are partners! We are forming our PLAN as Robert and Kim Kiyosaki teach!
What’s your plan?
About The Author
Sue is an entrepreneur, Online Marketing Coach and top income earner with her company, who has been creating an income from home online since 1996. She encourages self-growth and shows people how to develop valuable connections online and turn them into lasting relationships for long term business profits. She is also a public speaker and published author of numerous print and electronic articles as well as coauthor of the book 'Build It Big: 101 Insider Secrets From Top Direct Selling Experts' and is a rich woman coach. To find out more visit: http://www.SueSeward.com
