It
is a business
When you become involved in network marketing it is
important that you understand that it is a business, a point reiterated
throughout this book. Many people in network marketing never quite grasp the
correlation between owning a network marketing business and owning a
traditional business. Even though the way each goes about doing business can be
vastly different, the basic principle that network marketing is a business
never changes. To build any successful business requires an understanding of a
number of basic principles followed up with commitment and good business
practices. In this section we look at some topics that will set the foundations
for you to go on and build a successful network marketing business.
#9 Treat it like a business, not a hobby
#10 Make a commitment and your chances of success will
increase
#11 Understanding the universal laws of business
#12 Network marketing is a numbers game
#13 You may not like everything about your business
#14 It’s not always convenient
#15 Manage your time, and profitability will come to you
#16 Having your door open for business
#17 Set up a separate bank account
#18 Manage your money wisely
#9 Treat it like a business, not a hobby
An important aspect of this book is helping you
understand that the elements of building and operating your network marketing
business are no different to those of building and operating a traditional
business. Most importantly, we aim to help you understand and reinforce that
you are in a very real business, not just a hobby. With this in mind, it is
important that you treat your network marketing business as it deserves to be
treated. A large number of people who undertake network marketing treat it like
a bit of a hobby or something to dabble in, which is okay if you only want
hobby results. Those who get involved for the bigger picture will be
disappointed and frustrated if they don’t approach it in a committed way or
give it the respect it needs. If you have become involved in network marketing
in order to build a profitable business, then the first step towards achieving
results is to make a conscious decision to treat your new enterprise as a real
business—right from day one. Not having a shopfront or a factory or a big
office takes away nothing from the business itself, and in fact is really
smart, as overheads of that kind are what kill many businesses. Your business
has the potential to have a multimillion dollar turnover if that is what you
wish, but that won’t happen if you operate it with a hobby attitude. We talk
about setting goals and dreams later in the book, where we make the point that
you can build your network marketing business to give you exactly what it is
you want out of life. Treat it as an opportunity that can be as big or as small
as you want—but regardless of the size, treat it as a business and you will be
well on the way to achieving your desired goals.
#10 Make a commitment and your chances of success will increase
If you had just started your own traditional business
it would be fair to assume that you would be devoting to it a considerable
level of commitment, financially, physically and mentally. Understanding that
your network marketing business is just that, a business, be sure that you
devote the same level of commitment to it—not just to the network marketing
company you are affiliated with or to the person who introduced you, although
both are important, but to yourself and your business. Far too often we see people
who get involved in network marketing making the mistake of short-changing
themselves when it comes to their level of commitment. The result is a sense of
frustration that the business does not seem to be working, or is not working
quickly enough, illustrated by the story of John and Jessica, who got involved
in network marketing and were keen to get the job done as quickly as possible
so that they could give up their jobs. Unfortunately, not long after they got
started it became apparent that their commitment did not back up their goal.
Soon John and Jessica began to make excuses about not being able to do the
things that were suggested to them. They didn’t attend business meetings and
seminars, avoided the purchase of support tools and personal development
materials, and weren’t actively working their business consistently enough to
achieve the desired result. Needless to say, this lack of commitment was
reflected in the lack of success of their business, and their goal of giving up
work as quickly as possible had to be put off. Your business will require a
certain amount of commitment from you in areas like time, effort and finance.
Although these commitments are minimal compared to the requirements of a
traditional business, they are there nonetheless. By making a commitment, you
minimise dithering: ‘Will I do this, will I do that, will I attend that
meeting, that seminar, do I really want to go out tonight, can I afford this,
can I afford that?’ By making a commitment you have already answered the question
and so you just do it.
#11 Understanding the universal laws of business
If you are new to network marketing, have never been
in business before, and you are finding some aspects challenging, ask yourself:
‘Would this be any different if I were building a traditional business?’ The
answer, in most cases, will be ‘no’. In the operation of a business there are a
number of universal laws that apply to most enterprises. Whether a business is
large or small, some aspects never change—for example, cashflow, communication,
establishing systems, marketing, time management, etc. Network marketing is a
business, and some of these universal laws will apply simply because you are in
business. One of the challenges often faced by those new to network marketing,
especially those who have never been involved in their own business before, is
the mistaken belief that these issues are unique to network marketing when they
are first confronted with them. But if for this reason they choose to
discontinue the business and move on to something else, they will find that the
same issues still apply. There was the case of Matthew, who had worked for
someone else all his life but had always wanted a business of his own. On
becoming aware of a network marketing opportunity he saw it as his chance, and
decided to get involved. Soon he was confronted with some of the realities of
running a business. Because Matthew had never been in business before, he
thought that some of the challenges he was facing were specific to his network
marketing business and soon bailed out, commenting that ‘network marketing does
not work because it’s just too hard’. Some time later, Matthew started a
traditional business, where he was soon confronted with the same challenges.
Unfortunately, he found those challenges also ‘too hard’, and this business
failed too. To help you better understand business generally, buy some books,
do some small business courses, and mix with other business people, not just
network marketing people. The more you can learn about business in general, the
greater your chances of success in your network marketing business.
#12 Network marketing is a numbers game
The dream of all businesses is to have as many
customers as possible buying their products or services, ideally 100 per cent
of the total market. The reality is that all business owners recognise that
they will only attract a certain amount of the market, or market share. In
fact, larger organisations understand this principle so well that a large
portion of their business planning is based around calculating how the numbers
stack up. Based on experience and extensive research, most successful
businesses know the percentages when it comes to market acceptance and market
share. Whether it is a sole-trader bricklayer submitting a quote on a small
retaining wall, or a multi-national engineering company submitting a tender on
a major project, both understand that they are not going to win all quotes or
tenders submitted. They realise it’s a numbers game and that if they persist and
keep submitting, they will win enough to be profitable. Interestingly enough,
the percentage conversion rate actually tells you a lot more. If you win every
job you quote for, you are probably too cheap. If you get none, you are
probably too expensive. The aim is to figure out what your conversion rate
actually is. If you win five out of ten quotes and you want to build your
business, submit more quotes. Simple as that. As you build your network
marketing business, for you the numbers game will mean finding those in the
marketplace who may want to be involved and join your team, or those who wish
to buy product from you. There will be those who do and those who don’t. You
can be sure of one thing, though— there will always be those that do. It simply
means you have to persist, going through those that don’t, to find the ones who
do. The bottom line is that doing business is a numbers game, and the more you
work the numbers the better chance you have of winning the game. Your network
marketing business is no different—not that you treat people like numbers, but
if you can understand right from the word go that not everyone is going to want
what you have to offer, even though you may think they should, this will make
your journey so much easier. If you work the numbers, the numbers will work for
you.
#13 You may not like everything about your business
As exciting as the opportunity is, the reality is that
you may not like everything about your business or some of the things you are
required to do to make it work. In a perfect world this wouldn’t be the case,
but we need to remember that there are probably things we don’t like doing in
our current traditional business or job—but we continue to do them because we
understand that they are the price we pay to achieve the end result. There is
an interesting phenomenon which we call ‘business envy’. It’s that ‘thing’
which makes everyone else’s business look so much better than our own. They
look easier to run and far more profitable, cause fewer headaches, attract heaps
of customers, and so on. In reality, we have yet to come across any business
that is easy. Business envy needs to be kept well and truly in check. There
will be times when certain aspects of building your business will challenge you
and put you outside your comfort zone. There will be things you simply do not
like doing, find uncomfortable or don’t agree with. It is vitally important
that as you build your network marketing business you recognise this fact:
‘Yes, there are certain things that I don’t like doing and find challenging—but
this is no different to the dislikes and challenges I found in what I was doing
prior to my involvement in network marketing. But the price to pay for the end
result is insignificant compared to the price I had to pay previously.’ We
recommend that when you are feeling flat about your business you take the time
to write down the positive aspects that really do make it feel worthwhile—the
flexibility, the freedom, the creativity and the satisfaction gained from
getting results. Focus on these positives and the negatives will soon seem less
overwhelming.
#14 It’s not always convenient
For most people getting started in network marketing,
it provides the opportunity to develop a business part-time alongside their
current work commitments. While this has its advantages, it also means fitting
in something else around what could already be a very busy schedule. Getting
started is not always going to be convenient and it may mean sacrificing some
things in the short term. Things like a bit of TV, some of your social life or
some of your time with the family may have to be replaced with time building
your business. It is important to remember that these sacrifices are only
shortterm, and your reward will be to enjoy them full-time once your business
is established. There will be times when you don’t feel like going to another
meeting or attending a seminar or delivering product to a customer. The average
person will justify this as ‘not being convenient’ and so will not do what
needs to be done. At times like this you will need to remind yourself that
failure is not convenient, that ‘to do what others will not do leads to
achieving what others will never achieve’. That said, we strongly recommend
that you enjoy the journey. Sure, sacrifices will be required to get your
business off the ground, but take the time to enjoy the process, the thrill, the
nerves, the anticipation and the satisfaction as the results start to show.
This enjoyment will fuel you to overcome those feelings of flatness that
everyone experiences from time to time. Ask any writer what gets them through
the countless hours stuck behind a keyboard on a beautiful day when just about
anything else has more appeal than typing another several thousand words; they
will always say that seeing their book on a bookshop shelf makes it all totally
worthwhile.
#15 Manage your time, and profitability will come to you
Because building a network marketing business is
usually done part-time alongside what is more than likely an already busy
schedule of work and family commitments, it is important to practise good time
management. This, of course, will be easier for people who are well-organised
by nature than for those who struggle to remember just which day it is.
Whatever your style, one thing is certain—to make a success of your network
marketing business you will have to be organised and manage your time as
effectively as possible. We all have 168 hours in a week. Why do some people
seem to achieve so much more in their 168 hours than others? Usually it is
because they maximise their time by managing it better. Fortunately, good time
management is not a difficult thing to achieve. For the most part it is driven
by being organised and working from a diary. If you don’t have a diary or have
never worked from one, now is the time to start. There are many great books
available on time management to assist those who struggle in this area; for
example, Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern and The One
Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. If you are not the
most organised person, we highly recommend that you learn more about time
management. If you are not into books, there are some great websites that offer
online training courses in time management, for example, www.worldwidelearn.com
and www.remotecourse.com. Or you might find that friends or business associates
are willing to share their secrets and tips on how they manage to get so much
done in a day. Time management is a skill that comes naturally to some but not
to all. If your skills are lacking, do something about it.
#16 Having your door open for business
If you were establishing a traditional business and
opened your doors to customers only a couple of days a week or your hours were
inconsistent, how successful would you expect that business to be? Having your
doors open for business is presenting your business to others or selling some
product, yet many people go about their network marketing business doing very
little of either and then question why it isn’t working for them. People who
spend a lot of time thinking about the business or attending a lot of support
training and seminars are often under the misapprehension that they are busy
building the business, but in reality they are not keeping their doors open
long enough to make their business work. Here is a perfect real-life example of
this attitude. David and Di, who were building a network marketing business,
were meeting with Ian, their up-line coach, frustrated by their lack of results
to date. They told Ian how excited they were about the opportunity and how they
thought about it constantly, how they were reading and listening to as much
support andmotivational material as they could get their hands on, and were
attending all the business meetings, seminars and functions that were being
promoted to them. With all of this going on, in their minds they were busy
building their business. But when Ian worked back through David and Di’s diary
over the last couple of months, they realised that the time they’d spent
actually presenting the opportunity to others (building the business) was
minimal, that the poor growth of their business was in direct relation to how
often they’d had their doors open for business over that time. Once David and
Di recognised the imbalance and addressed it, their business took off. Taking
time to think about and prepare plans for your business is important, and
attending training and seminars is also a key ingredient, but if you want your
business to grow quickly, do a regular reality check of your time to ensure
that these elements are being equally matched by ‘having your doors open for
business’. You need to put out your ‘NOW OPEN’ sign every day to get customers
walking in that door.
#17 Set up a separate bank account
It is important to set up a separate bank account to
operate your network marketing business. If you were running a traditional
business you would not attempt to operate the banking for it out of your
personal account; the same applies here. Even though in the early days it may
seem your business is not big enough to warrant a separate bank account, you
are laying the foundations of good business practice by starting off with a
separate account straightaway. Further to this, there will be expenses as you begin
to build your business, many of them tax deductible. The costs associated with
such expenses are far easier to monitor if the transactions are on a separate
account. It can be difficult trying to identify them when they are mixed into
your personal account. All your network marketing expenses should be paid out
of your business account, and any income derived should also be paid directly
into that account. Don’t make the mistake of paying any income from your
network marketing business directly into your personal account while paying for
expenses out of the business account, especially in the early days, otherwise
it will seem that you are always spending money and never making any. Operating
a separate account also allows for simpler accounting, which leads to easier
assessment of income and expenses and the submitting of tax returns. Another
excellent reason for opening a separate bank account is simply that there is
nothing quite as motivational as watching that account start to grow. As the
balance increases, so does your energy and conviction. If the money coming in
is somehow lost in the cracks there is little motivation to keep working on it.
We play funny games in our minds, and a simple trick like this can have more
impact than just about anything else.
#18 Manage your money wisely
When operating any business it is critical to have in
place some good accounting practices and a basic knowledge of bookkeeping. You
don’t need to rush off and get a degree in accounting—that’s what your
accountant is for—but it is important that you respect the need to keep good
records and be organised. In the beginning you may feel there is no real need
to pay too much attention to this area, but remember, you are laying the
foundations for a much larger business. More importantly, you are building a
network of people who will look to you as an example and who will seek out
advice on how to best build their businesses. If you do things correctly from
the beginning, you will not have to go back and clean up the mess later. It is
often said in business that ‘you can’t manage if you can’t measure’. Practising
good accounting will allow you to better measure where your business is
financially and thus allow you to better manage it. Additionally, the way you
structure your business while building it can have an effect on its
profitability; good accounting practices will allow you to identify problems a
lot more quickly and act to solve them. If you have never been in business
before, make an appointment with an accountant and get some advice on how to
best set up your record keeping and books in general. Be aware that not all
accountants will understand network marketing or be that positive towards it,
largely because they’ve seen other clients not making a success of it. If you
are serious about your long-term network marketing career, you may want to
sound out your accountant on their knowledge and support. If you feel he or she
is lacking in these areas you might want to consider changing to one who is
knowledgeable in the field, and supportive. Where a network marketing business
is a supplementary source of income, and being run from home, there may be some
considerable tax advantages and benefits, and possibly some pitfalls, that you
need to be aware of. Getting the right advice will prove invaluable to maximise
opportunity and to reduce risk. Likewise, when you are starting to generate an
income stream that is growing into a healthy monthly figure, you might want to
consider how to best use this money. Some people use it as their annual holiday
money, ensuring that they have a great overseas trip every year; others use it
to fund a deposit on a new investment property every year. Then, of course,
there are some who simply blow it, never taking full advantage of what the extra
income could do for them and their future. What you do with the money you make
from your network marketing business is entirely up to you, but we would
recommend that you have some plans in place and ideally visit a good financial
planner who can give you some professional advice along the way.
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