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Handling Challenges in Network Marketing
Do you ever find yourself being frustrated by your company? By your upline? By your team? By just about anything? I’m going to share with you some thoughts on those obstacles and challenges that can creep into your Network Marketing business, and why I call these Bug on the Windshield in Direct Sales.
Welcome to the Street Smart Wealth Podcast, show #280. Click the icon, top left (right between to two title links) to open the player and listen in!
Also, if you are looking for the show on Choosing Between Two Companies, You’ll find it here! I gave the wrong show number on the podcast! Oops!
Bugs on the Windshield in Direct Sales
On a recent road trip, I experienced firsthand some “bugs on the windshield.” We were out of the city, driving up a mountain and drove through a LARGE swarm of some kind of big, awful bug and our windshield was SOAKED in guts and water (sorry, a little graphic!)
It made me think about some of the current trends in life and business and that phrase we hear in Network Marketing – “Bugs on the Windshield in Direct Sales.”
Sometimes, you get pounded with a swarm –
Someone who was really being counted on quits.
Someone who was really being counted on signs up with someone else.
The company won’t change the labels.
There are too many conference calls.
There is too much training.
There are too many emails.
An email or phone call doesn’t get returned quickly enough.
The answer can’t be found.
These are all simply Bugs on the Windshield in Direct Sales.
Whatever it is, all of us have those times that we feel the bugs have invaded. It’s going to happen in life; friendships; with children; and with our life partners. Sometimes, it invades an entire town or community. It certainly happens in business.
You’ve heard it before – Tough times don’t last but tough people do.
You are here because you are “a tough people!!!” (Okay, person.)
NOTE TO SELF – STOP WHINING; STOP THE PITY PARTY; STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF; GET OFF YOUR DUFF AND GET BACK IN THE GAME.
Now, before you think that was directed at you, please read on. That is the copy from a note that I placed on my closet door a few years back.
I won’t get into all of the reasons I put that there, but they were all personal and had to do with fires; neighbors who lost everything and moved; a neighbor diagnosed terminal who passed away last week; and the helplessness and “survivor guilt” that surrounds all of that. I went through a period when I just couldn’t get revved up to work on my business. It felt almost “trivial” in light of all that had been lost.
The reality is, I can’t change any of that. Just like, in most cases, none of us can change the things that are dealt to us that seem devastating. As another leader recently shared about their local tragedy, we all have a choice in how we look at things and what we do about them; how we react.
Seasons come and go. Spring brings buds, blooms and new growth. Winter and Fall are like a “death”; a cleansing. We have this same thing in our lives and in our businesses.
Things change; people change; teams change. My son cried his 7 year old heart out at the end of his first hockey season. He knew he would not get the same team again the next season. He was right. He had a different team; and another one the next season, and so on. And they were all wonderful in their own way, and yet different.
Our team’s will change; leadership changes; products change, and yet there is always reason to embrace that change and make room for the new that awaits. It’s all about looking at the door opening and not at the one closing.
You are a champion. And, you have a championship season ahead of you. If you just stay in the game, you won’t choke at the free throw line. You’ll sink the ball; be lifted on the team’s shoulders and ride off into the sunset.
When business “slow downs” happen, the first thing to look at is yourself. Did you change anything? Make an adjustment? Take time out to do this, that or the other thing? What are you doing differently? Are you taking the same action steps daily?
There are two things that speak loud and clear – results and excuses.
Which do you produce more of on a daily basis?
When your business isn’t moving forward the way you want it to, who do you blame?
When chaos consumes your life, who do you blame?
At the end of the day, when you are in a funk, who do you blame?
In my early days in my business, I lived with a lot of excuses and blame –
Things will be better when the company does THIS.
Things will be better when my downline does THAT.
More people will be interested when THIS happens.
What a train wreck that kind of thinking was!
I have watched people spend thousands of dollars and thousands of hours building systems and the “perfect” mousetrap, and yet no more mice were caught. I’ve looked for that holy grail as well.
Success in this business is NOT about systems; NOT about the next new product; NOT about the perfect script; NOT about what others can and should do for you.
Yes, systems can help; and new products are nice; and new scripts may feel more comfortable. But they are not what determine your ultimate success.
Success in this business, day in and day out, lies with YOU.
Every day, success is a choice. Every step you take and every step you delay determines your success.
What steps will you take and what steps will you delay today? The answers will determine your success and the speed of it.
Today, I feel empowered by what lies ahead; challenged by the new things coming; new trainings being taught and new ways of reaching out to people.
We don’t need more training; more calls; or more “stuff.” We just need more nuts and bolts action.
Everything anyone needs to be successful is available. The leaders will reach out and grab it. You just need to point them in the right direction and certainly, support them. Everyone here does that just fine.
If someone on your team doesn’t take action, and you know you have done your job in pointing and supporting, please don’t feel that somehow you haven’t done enough or could be doing more. Success and the desire for it comes from within each person.
Some who are here had no real sponsorship at all and yet they sought out what they needed. The leaders will always do that. Be there to celebrate and embrace the moment with them.
DIRECT SALES BUSINESS COACHING
Looking for some help taking your business to the next level? My one on one and inner circle programs are LIVE! Are you looking for coaching to be successful in your Network Marketing business? Want to also learn how to generate your own leads online? My Inner Circle Coaching Program may be just what you need. Or, maybe it’s one on one coaching. Learn more about both at StreetSmartWealth.com/coach
Tweet me – @jackieulmer with comments and if you have a question for the show, add the hashtag #JackieUlmer
<—— Did this podcast help you? If so, it would mean a lot to me if you would share it with others!!! And, share your comments below!
I teach mindset mastery, as well as Network Marketing and Social Media Mastery.
Let’s have some conversation!
PS: If You Are Struggling to Sponsor, and Don’t have a Team, Haven’t Recruited Anyone (or less than 10 people), This is Where You Want to Start DirectSalesBootcamp.com
If you are happy in a business, that is great. If you are looking for the right business; the right mentor; something you can build online, I would love to share what I am doing with you.
Click here and let’s explore the possibilities.
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