Blind Loyalty a Death Trap in Network Marketing

This article is intended for true network marketers – those individuals who joined a company with the intention of going beyond mere product consumption. These are the people with an earnest desire to build a business and create a full time income for themselves. If this is NOT you, close this window (or tab), go to the kitchen and pour yourself a nice cold glass of your company’s product. If this IS you, then read on – this article could save your business.

Pitfalls and Death Traps

One of the most important tenets of successful Network Marketing is belief in one’s products and company. This is certainly true for how can one effectively promote a product and company if he or she does not believe in them?

But there is a major pitfall to this, a near fatal business mistake that effects a large number of Network Marketers, including myself at one time. BLIND LOYALTY.

Don’t get me wrong. Like I’ve said, it’s important to believe in and be faithful to the product and company that you’ve teamed up with. The trouble is that networkers often follow this to the nth degree and become so enthralled in their company that they end up throwing all rationality out the window. They stick by their company and defend it fiercely, rabidly even and it becomes the center of their business world.

How can you make sound business decisions when you’re looking through the tainted eye glasses of emotion? The answer is YOU CAN’T.

Strong emotional attachment to anything will cloud your judgment and hinder your ability to make smart business decisions. So it’s important that we maintain clarity when we’re building our Network Marketing businesses because it’s exactly that – A BUSINESS. Approach everything analytically and rationally. If you’re company is putting up good numbers, you’re making money and management is making smart decisions that benefit the distributors, then by all means stay with your company. But if the numbers are down and your checks are down and the management is making mistakes, it may be time to reconsider.

Some Advice

Education is the key to making sound business decisions. If you make certain that you and your team are educated on the ins and outs of the Network Marketing industry, you are ensuring that they are properly equipped to make the right choices at the right times based on reason and not emotion.

No matter how you might feel about your company and its products, you must not allow your emotions to sway your business decisions. Now, because we participate in a largely a relationship touchy-feely business, this can be difficult. But you have to remember that keeping emotions separate from business is what distinguishes a Network Marketing leader from a Network Marketing consumer.

Which one are you?



UPDATE (5/12/09)

Reading back over this post I realized that I left out an essential point:

IN NO DO I WAY ENCOURAGE OR ENDORSE THE BEHAVIOR OR PRACTICES OF MLM JUNKIES.

You know who I mean. A notorious bunch that hop from company to company, cross recruiting and making a quick buck selling their training materials or promoting affiliate deals. NOT COOL. You’re a stain on the good name of Network Marketing and I personally want nothing to do with you.

I wrote this article with the intention of helping people make smarter business choices. If you’ve been with a company and have been working it hard for a couple of years and you’re still not making any money, then it may be time to reconsider. No matter how much you love the product or the company, it gets to a point where you have to step back and say enough is enough because the truth is there may be a company out there that is a better fit for you. Conduct your business objectively and you’ll save yourself time, money and heartache.