Introduction
Recently, I sat in on a talk given by a company executive about Network Marketing. I found the talk to be infuriating. You know that feeling of not being able to sit in your seat because what you are hearing is wrong on so many levels? I was literally squirming in my seat feeling an almost irresistible urge to get up and scream. While this speaker was very accomplished in the corporate world, we all could see they had never built a Network Marketing business and had shown up simply to dole out demonstrably bad advice based on observation, rather than action.
This happens too frequently with people inside and outside of the profession. While I have seen it from those on the corporate side of the business, what’s worse is the amount of bad advice coming from those who have gotten to the top, usually very quickly, but their business didn’t stand the test of time.
Working in a Network Marketing company and building a Network Marketing business are very different. Likewise, getting to the top and staying at the top are also very different.
I see a lot of confusion about the Network Marketing model, which I hope to dispel. I will use the term Multi-level Marketing (MLM) or Network Marketing (NM) because it describes a very specific business model—the model I will be discussing. Direct Sales is a broad term that encompasses the many models that sell directly to the consumer.
When my kids were little, they loved watching a TV show called Ridiculousness. The premise was to highlight people who did stupid things that essentially defied the laws of physics. The result of their actions produced undesirable results which were, in theory, funny. (I personally found much of it cringe-worthy, but then again, I am an adult in theory.)
What I heard from this speaker—and from too many others over the years—was a version of Ridiculousness. The advice given was uninformed, inexperienced, and downright unprofessional. If followed, this advice would produce undesirable results that would not be in the least bit funny. And after seeing so much cringe-worthy advice dished out in the Network Marketing profession, I felt compelled to write a book that would break down the big build of a Network Marketing business in detail. When you understand how this business gets built and some of the principles that can’t be ignored, you aren’t easily swayed by ideas that may, on the surface, sound good but in reality, are not.
Because Network Marketing has little barrier to entry, most people coming in have no experience in the profession or even any kind of business experience. These inexperienced people are often taught by those who are also inexperienced.
When I started, I had no idea what I was doing and mostly kind of winged it. If it weren’t for books on the subject, I am not sure what would have happened in my first year. Those OG authors, Mark Yarnell and John Milton Fogg, made a difference for me, and through this book I hope to contribute the same insights to the next generation of Network Marketing professionals. I believe that helping create more success and excellence in our profession will serve to help more people see the value in getting involved. I hope that one day people will actually seek out and choose Network Marketing as a career.
I believe that many people working hard in Network Marketing don’t succeed and/or don’t sustain success because they never understood what fundamentally makes this business work or what it really takes to succeed.
What will you find in The Big Build? You are going to learn what you need to do and understand in order to grow, sustain, and level up your business.
If you want to create long-lasting success in Network Marketing, this book is for you. Let me be your coach and guide you through the profession. Let my hindsight be your foresight.
I am going to give you the “secrets” that took me years to learn. Over the years, I have had the good fortune to be taught by some of the world’s most successful networkers because I sought them out and implemented what they generously taught me. Unlike my experience in the corporate world, I found that top leaders in Network Marketing are incredibly willing to share their time, talent, and resources with those who actively seek help and demonstrate their commitment to succeeding.
I want to be a part of that tradition and prevent you from experiencing the undesirable consequences I see when inexperience or lack of real understanding drives the bus.
Sadly, too many of those who write books and promote coaching programs to the Network Marketing profession never participated in the profession in any meaningful way, or they got to the top of their company’s compensation plan on sheer energy and charisma, but they don’t know how to sustain staying at the top. Worse, they can’t teach others how to build and sustain long-lasting success.
What happens when someone doesn’t sustain their success? Most of the time they don’t take a hard look at what went wrong, but instead they become coaches and authors selling bad ideas to vulnerable distributors.
These MLM “gurus” have figured out that others can do the heavy lifting of finding and building a team and the guru just has to ingratiate themselves with the leader of a team by offering a free Zoom, a free book, and then having the leader edify and validate the guru to the team. The guru can now sell the team their books, coaching programs, and seminars and get 100% commission on what they sell.
Sometimes these gurus start to believe their own press and jump back into Network Marketing with the latest and best company to ever exist. And guess who they recruit first? Yup—the team you introduced to them. You build them up to your team and put them on a pedestal so your team would follow their advice. Now your recruits are following the guru into another company where they have to start over, ultimately delaying their success.
Those who implement the teachings of these gurus don’t know that what is being taught isn’t sustainable—or sometimes not even relevant—because there is no real understanding of the Network Marketing model.
To those on the outside looking in, this business can seem very simple. While that is true on a superficial level, the challenge is to keep it simple while approaching it with the seriousness of a business in which you have invested valuable time, a certain monetary outlay, and, maybe most importantly, your dreams.
Really understanding this business takes more time and effort than most people realize. Becoming the kind of person who can handle the weight of a large business takes more time and effort than most people would like. Until you truly understand what makes this business work and who you need to be to make it work, you will never have the discernment to determine which books, information, training, and strategies of building are actually beneficial to the growth and sustainability of your business.
If you are a corporate member of the profession, you can make decisions for your company that produce disastrous results by putting the wrong messages up on the company training platform. I have seen this happen too often in my twenty-eight years in the profession.
Additionally, unsustainable and misinformed business strategies are a blight on the profession and ultimately make us all look bad.
My hope is that I can share what twenty-eight years in the profession—and being a top income earner for twenty-three of those years—has taught me. Even after those many years in Network Marketing, I am still going strong and still in love with this rewarding and exciting profession.
The more collective success we can create together, the more we can elevate Network Marketing and make it the kind of profession people are proud to say they have joined.
So are you ready to level up your knowledge so you can level up in your business?
