Persevere or Perish

The following information is taken from Your First Year in Network Marketing by Mark and Rene Yarnell.  I am providing you highlights in the next several blogs in hopes that you will be equipped to survive and thrive in your hardest year of your network marketing business – the first one. 

The remarkable thing about network marketing is that survival (staying in the business while others are leaving it) is exactly what results in dramatic wealth.  Attrition is a major component of our type of business.  However, it is rare to find someone who has worked steadily in network marketing who does not eventually achieve success.

In network marketing, you either persevere or you perish.  The Yarnell’s research in 1998 showed that an estimated 95% of those who survive 10 years in network marketing become wealthy beyond their wildest expectations. 

In addition to financial freedom, these folks achieved an equally important time freedom.  They were able to have the time to do what they wanted with the people they wanted to be with.

Traditional business models offer little security these days.  MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) is a system in which ordinary folks can invest a small sum and, through tenacity and determination, can reap remarkable financial reward and personal freedom.

While MLM avoids the pitfalls of traditional business models (payroll, employee expenses, high overhead, etc), it has its own pitfalls that so many get trapped in and meet their MLM demise.

Discouragement and depression can set in, and folks give up.

Once MLMers lose their drive and enthusiasm to persevere through the tough months, once the excitement is gone, in many cases, so too is the opportunity to achieve dramatic wealth.  “It’s easier to give birth to a new distributor than it is to resurrect a dead one.”

The Yarnell’s statistics indicate that over 60% of all new network marketers quit in their first year, which is the most critical phase of the learning curve.  It is so important to commit to persevering through the first two years in order to reap the financial rewards in the years that follow.

The authors agreed with the suggestion that, “every MLMer was a lousy MLMer first.”  While the educational process in MLM is relatively brief, it can be devastating to ill-prepared new associates. 

Rejection is hard for most people to handle.  When an excited new associate approached a prospect that they are ‘sure’ will join the business and gets shot down, the emotional downswing into discouragement is huge.  It is even worse if they are ridiculed by those they love and respect. 

Expect rejection.  Get over it.  Move on to the next prospect.  Never give up.  Remember that MLM is the greatest opportunity in the history of the free market!