After much thought, I’ve decided that I’ll no longer be writing any posts on or about network marketing. Not because I dislike the concept of network marketing, but because the business model has changed, and not necessarily for the better.

You see, there are some glaring misconceptions about what it takes to become a success in network marketing, with a huge number of falsehoods freely floating around, that never seem to go away. And if this post sounds negative about network marketing, then so be it. But after 15 years as a network marketer, I’m tired of the lies.

Listen up people because I’m going to throw in a bit of honesty here. I hope you can take it.

Here are a list of gross misconceptions about network marketing, and the truth…

Anyone Can Do It

Complete and utter falsehood. Only the people who truly want to do it will. The rest will quit.

You Only Need Three Who Find Three

Wrong. You need to personally sponsor at the minimum 300 people, and preferably 500 to 1000 (or more). Any less and you’re just playing.

It’s The Product

No. It’s not. It’s the network. The product means nothing. The product and the pay plan can change on the whim of the company. If you’ve got a large network that believes in and follows you, then you have the ability to move your business, ie: your network, to another company. Without your network of distributors, you’ll always be starting from zero.

No Selling, No Sponsoring, No Prospecting, etc

The business is completely about sales. You must sponsor to grow your network. To sponsor you must prospect.

Get In Now Before It’s Too Late

Total hype. Total bullshit. If you even remotely believe this statement, I’ve got some bottom land in Death Valley I’d like for you to look at. BTW, I hate hype with a passion. It’s one of the worst things to ever happen to the network marketing industry because it takes advantage of the weak minded, gullible, naive, and lazy people all over the world. Every network marketing business built on hype will eventually fail.

The Curiosity Approach

Sneaky. Deceptive. Untruthful. If you want me to listen to anything you have to say about your business, then don’t waste my time trying the curiosity approach. Trust me, I’m not curious. At all. I’ve seen every type of comp plan. I know the numbers. You don’t have the most amazing product on the face of the planet, and I’m really not interested in what it can do for me or my family.

I’ve had several people over the years try the curiosity approach on me, and honestly, it doesn’t work. But it does do a really good job of pissing people off.

Build A Large Network Of Like Minded Distributors And Then Retire

Not possible any longer. You have to spend time replacing the people who are quitting, motivating the people who aren’t, training new distributors, giving conference calls, placing ads, checking voicemail, reading email, counseling, etc, etc, etc. Some of the hardest working people I know are full time professional network marketers. Some of these heavy hitters are working 50-60-70 hours per week, every week. Sure they have an above average income. But they work for it, with little actual time off.

And Lastly

Network Marketing is the only business in the world being promoted by people who have no idea of how to run a business and no working knowledge of marketing.

Yes, I can and have built network marketing businesses. Yes I have made money.

But I’ve made more with affiliate marketing. And so have many of the network marketing heavy hitters.

And there’s the rub.

1 comment
Posted in Network Marketing
Written on Tue, 19 February 2008 at 10:18 pm
Tags: no more network marketing
If you liked this post, then consider subscribing to our full RSS feed.