I want to share some million dollar MLM advice with you today.
I’ve learned these valuable lessons from books, mentors, and most importantly, practical experience.
I’ve been in this industry for 15+ years now. I’ve had my share of successes and failures. What I want to do is share some simple advice with you that I wish someone would have told me when I first joined the industry. These are lessons EVERY new network marketer should be taught right out the gate.
Knowing these things upfront will save you time, money and frustration.
Keep in mind this advice is for someone who wants to create a FULL TIME income with their network marketing business. If that does not describe your goals, please ignore this advice.
It’s All About the Numbers
First off, this business is a NUMBERS game. It always has been and always will be. Every business is a numbers game.
It’s also a game of skill and strategy, but you will always have to work the numbers to become successful. The numbers will be much bigger than you are taught.
Most people you talk to will not be interested in what you are offering them, and most people who do join your team will do nothing to build a business. This is a fact.
In most cases, you’ll probably have to personally sponsor 100 to 300 people to make it to the top of your company’s compensation plan. Some people make it to the top sponsoring less than that, but 100 to 300 seems to be the norm. Sponsor 4 people per month every month, consistently, and you could do this in about five years.
The Truth About Your Team
About 90% of the people you sponsor will do absolutely NOTHING to build a business, regardless of what you do to help them. They will order the product once a month, once every few months or a couple times a year. Many of these people will drop out in their first 90 days.
Be nice to these people. They are a VERY important part of your team. It’s where most of your volume comes from. Many of these people can also LEAD YOU TO your LEADERS.
About 10% of your team will be part-timers. These people will do SOMETHING other than just order the products. They will be ACTIVELY recruiting new customers and reps each month (or at least trying to). Work with these people and help them reach their goals. Plug them into a system. Give them guidance and inspire them by your own actions.
About 1% to 3% of your team will “catch the vision” and build a big team, with or without your help. These are your LEADERS. Some of these people will be leaders from day one and others will take some time to develop into leaders. These people will be responsible for 90% of your income and growth.
Your Biggest Objective
Your real job is to find and develop leaders. Most top earners in our industry make most of their income from two to five key leaders, even if they’ve sponsored hundreds of reps. That’s how the industry works.
Yes, you need to move products. Yes, you need to find part-timers. But never forget your ultimate purpose is looking for leaders.
Leaders move products, recruit others, and bring other leaders into the business. Distributors and customers come and go, but leaders build the business, and build it big.
In most compensation plans, you only need 1-3 serious leaders to build a monster income. Best of all, you don’t even have to be the one who personally sponsors these people. In most cases, they will show up in depth anyway.
Spend Your Time Wisely
Work with the workers. You can’t make anyone else successful in the business. Trust me, I’ve tried. Lead by example and inspire others by your own personal example. Spend your time where it is deserved, not where it is needed.
Work with the people who do the work, ask for your help and are active in the business. All the time you spend trying to motivate an unmotivated person is time wasted. You cannot turn a donkey into a stallion. You cannot make anyone “do” the business. This is a volunteer business and each person on your team is their own CEO.
When it comes to your own time management, spend 90% or more of your business hours on income producing activities. This includes prospecting, presenting, following up, making sales, getting customers and training your team. All other activities are busy work and do not grow your business.
Be a Professional
This business is a PROFESSION. Treat it accordingly. This means you invest in your business education. Listen to mentors and tapes, read books, watch videos and attend events.
Don’t nickel and dime your business. Invest in your business.
Work on your personal development daily. Get better every single day. Your business will only grow as much as you do.
Study your chosen profession. Attend industry events. Subscribe to leading publications. Learn everything you can about network marketing and your company. Bottom line: act like a network marketing professional.
Act as if you have one million dollars invested in your business.
Never pressure people. Never pressure people to join your team. Never pressure people to do more in the business than they want to. Treat everyone with respect and meet them where they are at.
Learn to Taproot
Your primary goal is to work through people. Your job is to help everyone you sponsor enroll at least one person within their first 7 days. Then you start working with that new person. You help them do the same thing. Then you start working with their new person.
You keep repeating this process over and over UNTIL you find a leader. You might have to work through five people to find your leader, maybe 50. You don’t know WHEN a leader will show up, but if you follow this process you will find your leaders. Find your 1-6 leaders as quickly as possible and life will get easier for you.
The Long Road
You need to pick one company you are passionate about and stick with it for the long haul. The longer you stay with one company the more the odds work in your favor. The longer you stay with a company the more credibility you get and the more you learn. It takes time to grow a team.
You Will Fail
At some point in network marketing, you will fail. All successful people have failed MANY times in their lives. That’s how they became successful. Failure is a good thing. The only way to succeed is to fail your way to success. You will experience setbacks and disappointments MANY times throughout your career. You will make mistakes. Things will never go exactly as planned. Learn from each failure, make the necessary adjustments and press on.
One Last Tip
Network marketing is NOT for everyone. We are all on a different journey in life. Just because you don’t succeed in the business doesn’t make you a failure. If you love the industry, improve your skills and press on. If you don’t love it, go find something that is your calling. Life is too short to do something you don’t enjoy.
Final Thoughts
This advice will save you TONS OF TIME AND MONEY, once you understand it. Once again, these are things I wish I knew right out the gate, when I first joined network marketing.
What are your thoughts? What is your best million dollar MLM advice? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think.
Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
P.S. Learn how to grow a successful network marketing business. Secret tips, training, and practical ideas. Free training delivered by email.
Golden Nuggets right there!!! I love it… A lot of people who join network marketing have the Wrong expectation and they get disappointed and say bad things about this profession…. Consider this amazing blog post as a vaccination of what to really expect…. However it’s SO WORTH it at the end… I have been through a lot of what is shared here by Chuck in the last 5 years… Yet it’s the best journey of my life!!!
Thanks for the comment, Jane. Nothing in life worth accomplishing is fast, free or easy. I’ve been at this 15 years and just figured it out in the past few years. I love what I do and want to do this the rest of my life.