One of the things that you have to do to create success is read books. I think everyone knows this by now. I’m reading The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani and I’m learning that network marketing breaks the rules. He doesn’t speak directly about network marketing, at least not so far. He does talk about entrepreneurs who break the cultural rules to build their success.
Bogus Rules of our Culture
Your culture has a lot of rules. Some are written down and somewhat enforced, like the speed limit on the road in front of your home. Some of the rules are not, like respecting your parents and elders. They define parameters in which everyone can coexist together.
Some of the rules you have don’t make sense anymore. For example, there are laws in places that say that you cannot keep a donkey in a bathtub or carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket on Sunday. I’m not kidding.
Many of Your Rules Come From Another Time
Many of your cultural rules come from your grandparents’ time or before. They are rules based on how they lived back then. It was definitely different. Long distance communication happened by phone. You needed equipment to do your job that most people didn’t own personally.
One of your biggest cultural rules is that children must go to school, go to college, get a good job, then retire and live out the rest of your days.
On the surface it sounds like a great idea. There are laws to make sure that the first step happens. You have choices – public school, private school or home school – but you do have to choose one. The other steps are technically optional but you get a lot of resistance if you break them, especially from the people who care about you.
These rules came from past generations where that idea worked. Back then, you could graduate from school and likely only have one or two jobs during your career. As far as I know, my grandparents only ever worked at one place.
Some of the Rules No Longer Make Sense
Everything is different now. You can communicate around the world almost instantaneously. You text, chat, message, email, and Skype with people around the world. You can create your own online radio and TV stations with podcasts, Periscope, Blab, Facebook Live and YouTube. Don’t forget your online newspapers, like this one, that are so easy with WordPress.
Adults still give their kids the same advice though. Go to school, get a degree, and get a good job so that you can retire and live out your days.
To do that, you spend hours in traffic to get to work when a lot of times you have equal or better equipment at home. This is most true if you work in an office. There is meeting software where people can gather from all over the world for a virtual meeting.
Worse, those adults who are dispensing that advice, because that’s what they were taught to do, are not going to be able to follow their own advice. The last statistics that I heard were that most adults will not have enough money to retire. They will have to either keep a part-time job or greatly reduce their standard of living. Maybe both.
Network Marketing Breaks the Rules
Entrepreneurs break the rules. They may follow the path for awhile and even get a job. Robert Kiyosaki said in Rich Dad, Poor Dad that a job can be a great place to learn certain skills. Eventually though, they leave the path and do something different.
Network Marketing is an easy way to start creating your own path. You will probably get criticized by for going your own way. I certainly did. The rules are sacred.
Starting out as a network marketer is a lot easier than most entrepreneurial paths. It doesn’t require anywhere near as much money and you can keep your regular job until you start making money. Your risk is a lot lower.
I Break the Rules of Network Marketing
Traditional network marketing has its own set of rules.
- Create a list of 100 people, including friends and family.
- Bring them to meetings.
- Pester them until they no longer answer when you call.
I think you can tell what I think about the network marketing rules.
Instead, I have built my business strictly online. I do not talk about my business offline at all. Most of my neighbors don’t know that I’m a network marketer.
Instead, I use some of those modern technologies that I mentioned above. I have this website, a blog, where I talk about the business side of network marketing. I have another website where I promote the products from my company. Most customers don’t give a flip about the business opportunity, so I keep them mostly separate.
I also have a third website that I am creating to teach my team how to build their business online the same way that I have. Blogging is an easy to get your message out to the world.
Here’s a bit of advice about learning how to blog. Most websites you see about blogging will tell you that it’s hard. They are trying to sell you coaching and they won’t sell much if you think it’s easy.
On the other hand, I tell you it’s easy because I want you to join my team and build your network marketing business online. You won’t join me if you think it’s hard.
Interesting, isn’t it? The answer obviously lies somewhere in the middle and is left for you to decide. I honestly believe that it is easy. There’s plenty to learn, but that should always be the case for anything meaningful.
Disclaimer and Disclosure
Speaking of plenty to learn, there is no guarantee that you will make money in network marketing. There is a lot to learn, and then you have to apply it. From my experience, those who are open to learning and then do the work will make money. Also, I am an affiliate and may earn a commission if you order through any of the links on this page.
Resources
This post was inspired by Vishen Lakhiani’s The Code of the Extraordinary Mind. It’s a great book, and next week’s post will be come from it as well. I also mentioned Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It is an must-read book for anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur.
Is Network Marketing Right for You?
Are you dissatisfied with the old rules of working for a living as an employee and hoping that you will have enough money to retire some day? It’s perfectly OK if you aren’t. There will always be a need for employees. If you are dissatisfied, do you have what it takes to take to build something different for yourself?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this post, being an entrepreneur, and a network marketer. Please leave a comment below and share this post with your followers on Facebook and Twitter.