Some of the comments and messages we get about Network Marketing make us laugh out loud! In this episode we break down those misunderstood and preconceived notions. We explore what a Network Marketing Company is, and does, and how our own Network Marketing Businesses have given us physical and financial freedom.
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The Top 7 Network Marketing Myths:
1- It's a Pyramid Scheme
2- Only Those at the Top Make Money
3- The Market is Over-Saturated
4- It's a "Get Rich Quick" Scheme
5- You Have to "Bug" Your Friends & Family
6- The Products are Overpriced
7- Network Marketing Doesn't Work
Show Notes:
Myth 1 - It’s a Pyramid Scheme
Let's talk about what a pyramid scheme is. A pyramid scheme is illegal! It is a company that has no products or services and an influx of representatives who make money from other people becoming representatives. That is not what a legitimate network marketing company is!
A network marketing company sells a product or service. Their distributors get paid based on sales of that product/service - not based on other people becoming distributors. Other companies sell their products to businesses that sell to consumers. With Network Marketing, we are just cutting out the middle person and selling directly to the consumer.
Myth 2 - Only People At The Top Make Money (have to get in at the beginning)
The funny thing is, this actually describes traditional businesses and not network marketing companies. In any other traditional business, who makes the most money? The executives/owners. Then it trickles down to the managers and then you have all of the people who are the workers who make minimum wage. It's really interesting, talk about pyramids. That's the definition of it. So it's really interesting that that gets applied to network marketing.
What I love about network marketing is it's actually the opposite. When you work for a company you can't make more than your manager or CEO. In network marketing it's an even playing field. You don't have to make less than the person who brought you into the business. You can actually work harder than them, do better and make more money. I love that it evens that out and that there's no ceiling. It is 100% based on your own effort, not someone else's.
The idea that you have to get in at the beginning is silly. I have launched people last week, last year, two years ago….eight years after I started my business and some of them rank even higher than I do. It doesn't matter when you start, it matters how much you're willing to work.
Myth 3 - The Market Is Over-Saturated
This is almost impossible. Let's talk about things that have been around forever. Let's go back to when Mary Kay started. So is the market saturated and no one will buy Mary Kay anymore? No, not at all. A lot of people have heard of Mary Kay and maybe they prefer another makeup line or direct sales company. But it's silly to think that all of a sudden women don't need makeup. Or even look at Apple. How many people in this world have a cellphone? Pretty much everyone. Does that mean Apple stops making and selling cell phones? No, there are always going to be ways to reinvent what they are doing, to improve, and there are always going to be new people. And people are being born everyday so there are always going to be new people who want your product.
I think it is important as business owners and even in network marketing that you recognize that market saturation isn't a thing because there are so many people in this world. Message saturation sometimes happens in small groups of people and that is when you get to shift your message.
Myth 4 - It’s a Get Rich Quick Scheme
I could spend the whole rest of this podcast talking about this one. Was any part of our journey a get rich quick scheme? Absolutely not. It was hard work! This myth is one of the biggest myths that drive people's negative feelings of network marketing. I don't know anyone in my industry that got rich quick. Now let me preface that with something. I do know people that have joined network marketing companies, made a lot of money really quickly, and then that company is no longer in business. That is not what we are talking about here.
We are talking about when you build a network marketing business with a company that is sustainable, will be around forever, and you can actually will your commissions to your children. That's the type of company we are talking about when we talk about network marketing companies.
This is where a lot of people go wrong when they get started. I have mentored so many people and brought them onto my team and they've had this mentality that they are joining and they will make a lot of money really quickly. And then they get frustrated because it's been a year and they aren't making a million bucks and they quit. Any sustainable business takes a while. How many brick and mortar places are instantly making tons of profit in their first year? Sometimes it takes years before they turn a profit. You have to invest in your business and work hard, just like any other business.
Myth 5 - You Ruin Relationships by Bugging Your Family & Friends
I feel like there are a lot of issues here. Because it is a low buy in and anyone can do it, so a lot of people come in without the skills they need. Many times they are not saying the right thing or they are bugging their friends and family. Or you also get that person that's overzealous. They are super excited because they love this product and they are passionate about it and the business. They don't know when to stop talking. Yes, there's this line of buggin' people, but there is also this line of you loving a product so much that you just can't help but share it.
So, as an example, I am obsessed with getting my lashes done. It is an addiction that is not working well for me right now being in quarantine. I am always looking for something. I've ordered countless amounts of magnetic eyelashes. However if I find something that I love and I'm obsessed about I call my friends right away and tell them about it.
However, if you don’t want to share your products with your family or friends, you don’t have to. There are so many different ways you can build your business without bugging your family or friends.
Myth 6 - Products Are Overpriced So They Can Pay Their Distributors
It's so interesting that people think that. Whether you're network marketing or not you have to have the cost of running your business added into your price. Those costs include distribution and marketing. The difference between a network marketing company is they are taking some of those funds and they are giving them to their distributors instead of paying brokers, store owners, national ads and so on.
What I love about that is they are empowering so many more people. They could have taken that money, put their product on a shelf, advertised, and then taken all of the profits. But instead they are creating thousands and thousands of business owners and empowering families. One of my favorite things about being involved in a network marketing company is, not only can I change the lives of the people who join me as business partners, but also the thousands of customers that I am able to personally help.
Myth 7 - Network Marketing Doesn’t Work
I hear this a lot and I think it's because people just haven't really given it fair shot. It's those people that think they are going to get rich quick, they haven't given it enough time, or they haven't actually worked themselves. They thought they would just sign up a few people and then make a lot of money. Yeah, that’s not how it works.
(Dani) It is important to remember that network marketing works if you work. When I was first introduced to the network marketing company that I am currently with it was my very first exposure to network marketing. I ended up buying this person's product for the same reason I bought the lash stuff. I had a son with some health issues, we were really struggling and nothing that we were doing was really working. So, she offered me this product, I used it, and it worked. I was pretty amazed at that because everything we had tried previously wasn’t working.
Even with that experience, knowing the product worked, I was not excited about how they were sold to me because of all of the myths throughout the years. What happened for me is I used the products for about 6 months. I started looking into the compensation plan and I was intrigued a little bit because I really did like the products and I wondered if it could be something for me. So, with the mentality that was previously mentioned, I enrolled one person, two people and then thought okay, this is it. I just get a business partner, cheer them on and I’m going to be a gazillionaire. That was what I thought, so I sat back and I didn't do much. I did enough to try and make that person feel supported but it really wasn't enough. It wasn't until about a year and a half into using this product and recognizing that my efforts in supporting someone wasn't working if I wasn't working. I then decided to play all in and say, I am going to do this.
Once that shift happened and I decided to treat business as a business and not as a side hustle or side gig, it was amazing to see the people I was attracting to my business and that they were coming to me. After that it took about a year, year and a half, of some REALLY hard work and a lot of sacrifice and we were able to replace my husband's income. He was able to retire as a software engineer and we can now call ourselves full time network marketers.
(Terese) I feel like most people have to go through that journey. Maybe it’s at different stages. For Dani it was more in the beginning and for me it was in the mid range of my business. I had a lot of success right at the beginning and then I had this team, so I stepped back and stopped working. I thought I just had to manage all of that and mentor them and tell them what to do and they would just take me the rest of the way. I had to have that shift in mentality and realize that I am only going to get to where I want if I am working and doing what I need to do to grow.
Network Marketing can definitely work, If you do too. I was able to stop teaching and be able to be a network marketer full time. I absolutely love it. It is hard work, but there are so many perks, just like owning your own business. It does give you residual income that some of the businesses that you could be in don't. There are times in our lives when we can take it easy if we need to, like when we had our babies. We were able to continue to grow our businesses with minimal effort. I love that you have that freedom, you can work where you want. A lot of people are learning to work from home, but we’ve loved it because we can work from the beach, a cabin , wherever. We have so many options and so much freedom. We can go on field trips with our kids, or go volunteer to help out in the classroom when they are in school. I have opportunities open to us that we are able take whereas when I was working full time I couldn't.
Take a look, do your research and throw away any prejudgments you have. Figure out what's really going on and take down some of those walls in order to better learn and understand the ways in which others run and operate their businesses.
Are you looking for a new business venture and think network marketing might be for you? Are you wanting to partner with someone(s) who have guide you through a proven system that works? We'd love to chat!
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