Do you care what others think of you?  Do you let yourself get drawn into their drama?

Most likely you answered yes to that question, either consciously or sub-consciously.  That’s because we all have an inherent, deep down desire to be liked by others.

I recently was reminded of one of life’s major truths… that – like it or not – people talk about you.  The question you have to ask yourself is if it really matters what others think or say about you.

This  is the basis of who we become.  Psychology points the finger at who we are as a compilation of our experiences, of which we become what we believe ourselves to be.  Who we believe ourselves to be is shaped by what we hear others say about us.

In short, if we choose to believe the critics, we will be filled with self doubt.  But if we fill ourselves with positive beliefs and thoughts we can overcome the external noise put up by the doubters and un-believers.

Finding MLM success requires that we shut out the pessimists and non-supporters of network marketing.  Every successful entrepreneur fights against convention to follow their own path to wealth.  They don’t take criticism to heart, but rather find the critical words a means to inspire and educate you more about yourself and your choices.

There will always be people in your life that don’t want you to succeed.  This may not be a conscious thing on their part… they just don’t want to lose you because your actions and success leads you down a different path from them and away from their stationary lives.   Somehow, instead of being supportive like a good friend or family member should be, they tell you what you’re doing is stupid, a waste of time… get a real job instead.

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How Will Your Life Be Measured?

What is success?  How do you achieve it?

Well, it all depends on who you talk to.  What’s your idea of success?

You might be successful in your relationships, marriage, faith, athletics, spirituality, losing weight… there are many areas of life to strive to reach a goal that, to you, equals success.

In the MLM business world, success may be measured in numbers of customers and down line reps you have.  It may be a certain monthly volume of sales, a certain monthly commission income.  You might even base your perception of success on how successful the reps in your down line are with your assistance and coaching.

I recently re-read Napoleon Hill’s best  seller “Think And Grow Rich”, a compilation of the attributes of more than 500 of the early 20th century’s richest and most successful industry magnates.  From more than 25 years of research,  Hill puts together one of the earliest books on self help.

Hill talks often of “the secret” given to him by Andrew Carnegie, and sets out to discover the steps that make a person capable of attaining financial success.

His subjects, although financial tycoons of his era, were not just successful in respect to industry.  He chose industry leaders, politicians, and people who had overcome significant hardship or disadvantage to achieve success – financial, spiritual, emotional, or other.  All intimately knew “the secret”.

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Have you asked yourself  “what am I working toward with my MLM”?

What are your dreams worth?

Are your goals written down and frequently examined?  Are you following a plan to reach those goals?  Are you inspired every day to keep moving toward your dreams?

I recently returned to Napoleon Hill’s “Think And Grow Rich”, and again found myself staring at his works with awe and feeling the re-stoking of the flames of desire within me that make me get up each day to face new challenges.  I hadn’t lost the fire… simply I found that his book added more volatile timbers to the blaze…

As I re-read this great work – one of the first of it’s kind on self help and motivation -  I recounted what life has provided me in the form of challenges and took stock again of what are my reasons for being.

In the realm of MLM, this is often regarded as the”Why”.  Why are you doing network marketing?  What are your reasons?  Family?  Financial freedom?  Fire your boss and work for yourself?  Simply add income to your month?

Most “Why” answers are valid (most are  moral, legal and honest).  Everyone who pursues the life of an entrepreneur has a very strong “Why”.

The question then becomes… how do you value your time and effort?  Are doing what is necessary to get to your “Why”?

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What’s needed -beyond desire- to earn major residual income by working in the MLM industry … ?

I USED TO believe that the crucial determining factor of reaching and surpassing a six figure income with an MLM biz depended on one virtue:   desire

When I say “Desire” I mean… How BADLY do you want it?

I have coached my reps to sort their prospects based on desire instead of money.  The idea is to find people for your organization who REALLY WANT IT and willing to do the necessary work to achieve it.

But here’s the thing.

People have different degrees of desire!  There are some who say they want it, but not really badly.  Then there are those who really yearn for and work hard to get it… but failure after failure causes them to become so discouraged they give up.

How many people have you sponsored who “wanted it” – who had desire – but just didn’t want it badly enough?  Maybe they didn’t quit – but when their dis appointment set in for lack of achievement, they might as well have given up.

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I was recently at a weekend seminar with Hal Perkins for a course titled “If Jesus Were A Parent”, based on his book by the same name.

Besides the eye opening methods about how to effectively disciple to my children to guide them into the world as disciples of Christ, I realized that much of what he said is true for a network marketing business too.

Before I get too far with this post, I hope I don’t offend anyone with the concept of creating an analogy between disciple building and MLM organization building.  Bear with me a few minutes and you’ll see the parallel…

As Hal went over many different aspects of how to take the principles of discipleship into everyday life, I was amazed at how much of a cross over there is into a relationship building business such as network marketing.

At the core of the message was that there needs to be implementation of basic principles of listening to others on a regular basis to help them meet their needs.

If you wish your children to become disciples of Jesus Christ, you need to create a relationship with them and with the church.  They need to have focused attention and leadership on a regular basis through their formative years until they have the knowledge to become disciples themselves.

Your MLM biz is a relationship based business whereby you are leading and teaching your reps until they have the ability to go out on their own with the necessary tools to do the same thing.  Fortunately you are not likely to require 15 + years to get your reps ready to go forth.

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Have you ever gone for a walk with your kids and come to an epihpany?

I recognized something recently that I had not thought about for a while when I went for a hike with my wife and kids.  My kids are awesome.  They’re 7 and 9 years old.

That’s not what I realized however…I already knew that, but I digress…

We started the hike on a cool fall day, as is usual and customary for Montana.  The kids had left the house happy to get outside into the fresh air.

But theywere not entirely excited to start the hike, because upon exiting the vehicle, they saw the hill looming in front of them with a trail that seemed long and steep.

The grumbling started and the whining.  And as much as mom and I encouraged them and told them they could do it, they continued to complain about how hard it was, and that they couldn’t do it.

I’m not one for reasons why you can’t – preferring to find reasons why you can instead.

So, on we went, slowly, agonizing step after step as their demeanors continued to sour.

After 15 minutes we rounded the corner to what awaited them: a hill side covered in boulders that would prove to be the best climbing they could have imagined.

Suddenly their spirits soared, and incredibly all the “I’m tired”, “my legs hurt”, “this isn’t fun” complaints abruptly ended.  The pace ramped up to light speed and the fun and excitement was on!

This seems to be the case with network marketers too.  They start with their MLM biz eager to go and take on the world.  But when faced with adversity -like running out of leads – they start to complain and fast to quit entirely, or find a new company.

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