You know the reaction you get from some people when you tell them you’re involved in Network Marketing? They cringe and ask, “Is that one of those pyramid schemes?” They act as if you’re Dr. Evil in an Austin Powers movie and quickly excuse themselves from the room. The funny thing is, every business is a network and if it’s a successful business, it’s involved in marketing.
In fact, networks and marketing permeates every aspect of our lives. For example, this computer that you’re using right now is only possible because of a network that some company has built. So is the electricity running through it and the rest of your home. The car you drive was built by a company that brought together networks to produce it. The steel, rubber, interior and even the gas in the tank is only available because of these networks.
It doesn’t stop there. The food we eat and the water in our homes are also a part of a network. The roads we drive on and the gas stations and grocery stores we shop in and the televisions and movies we watch and rent, the cable and satellite subscriptions we subscribe to are also vast networks that were built.
Everything that we own and did not make ourselves are all part of a network and the fact that we are aware that these things even exist is all because of marketing.
Wal-Mart, Costco, Home Depot, McDonalds, TGI Fridays, Sears, BlockBuster Video, Denny’s, Sam’s Club, Nike, Levi’s, Budweiser, Yahoo, Google, Coke, Pepsi, Starbucks, The New York Stock Exchange, all Newspapers and Magazines, Expedia, Century 21, Bank of America, Radio Stations, CNN, ABC, CBS and we could go on forever. They’re all networks that were built to provide people with the number one commodity in the world; Convenience.
So why, when we mention that we’re involved in Network Marketing, do people cringe?
The simple answer is, they don’t understand that everything is a network. Life has become so convenient that we have forgotten that someone actually built a network to make our life easier. The truth is that we work forty hours or more a week so we can support someone else’s network all in the name of convenience.
The job that most people work in is part of a network. Truckers, builders, retail clerks, bank tellers, insurance salesman, police, firemen, politicians, writers, manufacturers, real estate agents, etc. etc., all work for networks. Once they get a paycheck, most of their expenses are spent supporting others networks.
All of the biggest and most successful businesses have built, own or control their own networks and what stops most people from building their own networks is laziness, fear and moving out of their convenient comfort zones.
The one thing all successful networks have in common is someone built it to begin with. Some of the largest, global companies all started on a kitchen table with just an idea and some motivated people. People with a vision. People willing to build a business because they had a strong vision and reason why.
So, when people look at you like you’re crazy for even thinking about building your own network marketing business, they’re right! And I promise you that every one of the CEO’s that started the companies mentioned above were called crazy too. Donald Trump was told that his first big project would never work and he would never get the financing for it. Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, couldn’t get a single publisher to publish his book and is a best-selling author who flunked high school English. Sam Walton who started Wal-Mart, was a high school drop out and everyone told him he was crazy to think people would shop in a warehouse! Bill Gates was told that nobody would ever want a personal computer and businesses were the only market! In fact, every crazy idea has been mostly responsible for the advancement of society and life as we know it.
There is not a day in most peoples’ lives that they can get through the day without being part of a network in some way. The minute they wake up and brush their teeth they supported a network (Colgate). When they turned on a light bulb they supported the electric company. When they get dressed they supported the fabric industries. When they eat breakfast they supported agriculture and grocery networks. When they drive their car they supported car manufacturing and petroleum networks. When they listen to the radio they support radio networks and when they get to work, nine times out of ten, they are working for a network.
So many people supporting so many networks is good for businesses and the economy.
For all those people who say, ” Is that some kind of pyramid scheme?”, when you tell them you’re in network marketing, I offer this suggestion. Explain to them what you learned in this article and it will open their eyes in a new way. Some will understand that unless they build a network of their own, they will always be working and supporting someone else’s. Some will never get it, and they make good customers. Either way, you can’t lose.
