I have been involved in Multi Level Marketing and Network Marketing for more than 20 years.
I was attracted to the MLM model due to the fact that I could own my own business without overheads, without staff or other stresses of a traditional business let alone the cost of starting up – fractional compared to a traditional business.
I was originally recruited by a friend who took me to a ‘business meeting’ and introduced me to ‘The Big A’. I was impressed with the presentation, the person presenting and all of the smiling faces behind the handsome suits and smart dresses. A whole new world was opened up to me.
It was simple they said – you buy the products you’d normally buy weekly at the supermarket through the company – at a discount – but you MUST spend a certain amount each month to stay qualified for bonuses when your team grows.
Cool, I thought! Who wouldn’t want to save money on their every day items AND help me build my business?
I was taught how to show people ‘circles’ on napkins and whiteboards ( I longed for the day I could afford a big white board and imagined myself in front of eager people all wanting to become free from the ties of a J.O.B and an ungrateful boss!) and I was given some fantastic reading lists and tapes to listen too (yep, no CD’s back then!)
So, I was attending meetings, listening to tapes, I had products coming to me on autoship – I raved about how wonderful the products were to friends and family – gave them catalogues and told them of my dreams to qualify for a holiday to Canada.
I posted positive affirmations, I made dream boards. I imagined myself sitting in luxury cars and speaking in front of thousands of people.
I did all of this and I failed at this business. In fact, not only did I fail but I fell deeply into debt TIMES 3! Yes, 3 times I joined this particular company and quit, (well didn’t renew my distributorship fee) each time under a different ‘team’.
But not once did I get told the REAL secret to success. No. That was for the LEADERS to know and for you not to find out until you attained a certain level within the company (or so it seemed to me).
In later years, I was recruited into a wellness company by some friends of mine.
This company confused me, I didn’t have a credit card (no debit cards back then and I was blacklisted from credit due to my debt with a card from the activities in the Big A!)
I didn’t attend meetings – I did use some of the products but never really took a great interest in it.
I bounced around with Avon catalogues for a while, signed up with a telecommunication MLM and even an online auction business as well! With a little success but nothing to write home about. Something still missing. I had no idea what I was doing wrong.
Figuring my MLM days were behind me, I threw myself into a career but I was still looking for a way to make money from home. I was getting tired of working away from my family, having little time to pursue my own passions and hobbies so I was still ‘looking’.
I responded to an advertisement I saw somewhere about making a good income from home – it was very secretive though, no company mentioned just stories of success and huge dollars to be made.
I received an info pack that I paid $9.95 for. Again, no company name – just info on how my dreams could come true by working this particular business in my ‘spare time’. Well, I didn’t really have much ‘spare time’ but figured I could make myself available to work my own business for about 4 – 6 hours a week, maybe.
After receiving a call from a lovely lady who finally told me what the company was, I decided to give it a go and paid nearly $400 to get started with my own business – again.
So, I began using the product daily, didn’t see any drastic change (it was a weight loss product) but kept with it, determined to have my before and after pictures and story so that I could prove it worked and become a walking advertisement and therefore grow my business with eager customers.
I did a little training with my mentor but I think she gave up on me when my weight loss results were so minimal and so slow! Little did I know I have a medical condition preventing easy weight loss! So, the manuals and materials are collecting dust on my bookshelf as another MLM business bites the dust.
Have you noticed a pattern in my stories? Have you noticed how I speak of product and myself? How bad is that!
So, let’s recap.
Big A 3 times – FAILED
A Wellness company – FAILED
A telecommunications company – FAILED
An online auction business – FAILED
A Weight Loss Business – FAILED
All of these companies are HUGE! They have THOUSANDS of success stories attached to them and their reps make hundreds of thousands of dollars every single year in residual income.
So, if I’d wanted it bad enough, I wouldn’t have failed! Or would I?
Tune in for the next instalment to find out what I have learned from each and every one of the companies I was a part of and what I have learned since that has turned my world around.
Soni
Comments
Sonia, this is a great blog ... tells the story of many of us.
Thank you ladies!
And sorry for delay in getting parts 2 and 3 on here! Been a little sidetracked but should be on here every day from now on :)
Great to see you here you here Sonia and I am waiting to here the continuation of this post. Have to agree with what Terri said, it is your WHY that was missing !! I have been there myself. Done it, got the T shirt and failed over and over but then I knew what my WHY was and - well you know the rest ...... Shared for you.
Sonia I can tell you what was missing. Your WHY! I take it you will tell us this in the next post. I look forward to reading it. I will share part one on Facebook and Pinterest and tweet it too. Glad to have you in the community.