There’s something about the get rich quick mentality in MLM that drives me absolutely nuts!
I don’t know what it is, but most of the people join our industry and expect the money to be POURING in within a few short months of joining. They think they can sign their name to the distributor agreement, sit back and wait to start spending the money, without doing anything themselves to build the business.
Many of these same people have worked at a job for YEARS and are still broke, and will never get rich in their job, or retire comfortably. Yet, when they stumble into our industry they think they have found the “golden ticket” or the “winning lottery ticket.” They think that their MLM Program is their meal ticket to financial success.
We all know that things don’t work that way! Wealth and success have to be earned through concentrated effort, following a specific plan and persisting until you succeed. Anything worth accomplishing take time and lots of hard work.
Our industry is quite perhaps the ONLY industry where someone will “try it out” for 90 days and then quit and run to some online message board and say they were scammed. I just don’t get it. No successful business is built in 90 days. Give me a break.
More importantly, people don’t put up a blog saying their job is a scam. People who fail in traditional businesses don’t create a website saying they were scammed. Yet, people do this every day in our industry. To be honest with you, I’m sick and tired of it.
So if you are one of those folks who has the get rich quick mentality in MLM, here are some things you need to realize about LIFE and BUSINESS. I want to share 14 important lessons that will hopefully help change the way you think.
1. Most people in the world have no plan of any kind to build wealth or achieve success. Let’s face it, you could ask 100 people SPECIFICALLY what they want out of life. I’d bet at least 97 of those people wouldn’t have a crystal clear answer.
And of the three that did, I’d bet that not more than one of them had a specific written plan to reach their goals. Chew on that for a moment. The moral of the story is that most people float through life, rather than creating their life. Most people do not have a life plan or financial plan.
2. Most people who start a business FAIL. Why does it come as a shock when people fail in MLM? Depending on what source you site, nearly nine out 10 businesses fail, regardless of the industry. That’s how free markets and capitalism work. There are winners and there are losers. Businesses fail for a variety of reasons, but in most cases it’s simply because the business owner didn’t know what the HECK they were doing.
3. Most businesses take a couple years just to get profitable. Regardless of what type of business you start, or what industry you are in, it will normally take you two to three years, or more, just to get profitable. That’s assuming your business survives that long. Expecting to make a profit in your first few months is UNREALISTIC. And if you do make a profit it should be reinvested back into your business, not taken out of the business.
4. Most people will work a job for 40+ years, only to end up dead or broke by the age of 65. Following the traditional 40-40 plan does not work for most people. Most people need government assistance or family assistance in their retirement years because they did not plan or invest properly. That proves that following the traditional “career plan” of having a job for most of your adult life does not work, yet no one calls that a scam.
5. Most people will go to college for at least four years, take on a lot of debt, and have no guarantee of getting a job, let alone a good job. People BLINDLY go to college IN HOPES of getting a good job when they graduate, yet they never question the advice or the money they spend. Yet, we all know plenty of people in minimum wage (or underemployed) jobs with a college degree and TONS of student debt. I know plenty of unemployed college graduates too. And there are all the folks with large student loans who never finished college.
6. Most people in MLM expect to “get something out of it” before they ever “put something into their business.” You can’t reap before you sow. If you don’t put anything in you can’t get anything out. Just remember that. You have to plant you crops BEFORE you can harvest them.
7. MLM is simple, but it is far from easy. I could tell you how to achieve success in MLM in two or three sentences. But going out and doing the work is HARD. Success is always simple, but never easy. That’s why few people stick with it or succeed. If it was easy, everyone would do it.
8. Most traditional business owners invest tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars with NO ASSURANCE that their business will succeed. If you’re in MLM, consider yourself lucky. You don’t have too risk a lot of capital, have a bunch of employees, buy a bunch of inventory or have any of the headaches that traditional businesses owners have. So if you do fail, you don’t really lose much financially. I’ve known several people who owned traditional businesses that failed and lost SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars.
9. MLM is not the lottery. Signing up as a distributor is not the same as buying a lottery ticket. Signing up is the STARTING point, not the end point. It’s what you do AFTER you sign up that matters most.
10. There is no such thing as get rich quick. Here’s something else you need to realize. In life, and in the business world, there is no such thing as get rich quick. If it is a legitimate business it will take lots of time and money to grow and develop, probably many years. If you’re looking to get rich quick you can cash out your life savings and go to Las Vegas and hit up the casinos. But please realize that the odds are stacked against you winning there, too! Making it big financially requires a plan, hard work and discipline.
11. Nothing in life worth accomplishing is EASY! Here is the magic one on this list folks. If you’re attempting something big, something great, it will NEVER be easy. You will struggle, fail, and have many setbacks. That’s one of the reasons so many people don’t accomplish much in life. They don’t have the vision, the discipline or the perseverance to follow through with something until they hit their goal.
12. Plenty of people do well in MLM, but they invest YEARS to build up their business. There are LOTS of people who do earn BIG MONEY in MLM. Do not believe otherwise. But, for most of these folks it takes five or ten years to build a six figure income in their business. However, don’t let this scare you off. This applies to most businesses. Good things take time, lots of time, especially if you are doing it part-time.
13. Shiny Objects aren’t as shiny as you think. Jumping around to different companies because you aren’t getting the results you want is flat out stupid. Until you develop the right skill-set and right mind-set, you will fail in any MLM Company you try. Outside of the MLM World, entrepreneurs need to do the same thing. There is a huge difference between the way entrepreneurs and employees think. To succeed in business, you need to think like an entrepreneur. Ultimately, your success is up to you.
One more thing. The grass is greener where you water it!
14. The company you pick is only a small part of the equation. Joining a specific company does not guarantee you will make money or succeed. There are people who succeed and people who fail in every company AND business model. Ultimately, YOU are the most important part of the equation, not the company you partner with.
Final Thoughts
I really just wanted to make these 14 random points to hit home and get you thinking. If you have the “get rich quick mentality in MLM” I hope you will change the way you think. I hope you will realize that this is a business model you can leverage and partner with to EARN your success and wealth, not win it!
What do you think? Leave a comment and let us know. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great day.
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.
This is a great post. I for one really do not like the get rich quick mentality.
I really agree with #14 and wanted to add to it a little. You can’t gauge what success you might or might not have in MLM based on someone else’s success or failure. Just because your sister in law is doing well with one thing or your friend failed at another doesn’t mean that’s what will happen to YOU. It is up to you. Pick something you like and work hard at it.
Great points. There are successful and unsuccessful people in every industry. Just because one person did bad doesn’t mean you will. For example, thousands of restaurants close down every year, yet people keep opening restaurants. It’s not so much the business, but the person involved.
You made some great assessments in this post Chuck.
I also cannot understand how people could assume that a MLM will get them rich over night. Even with all the hype, it is just common sense that it won’t happen without a lot of work and patience. So many people think it is a slot machine that is about to pay off.
#14 really sinks in…the company is a part of the equation, but the biggest part is staring at you from the mirror every morning. No matter the company, if we are positive and follow the steps, success is much easier to attain. If we sit on our “keesters” and expect our sponsors to do the work, failure is inevitable.
At the end of the day we are all responsible for our own success or failure.
One of the things I thinks that perpetuates this is when they hear and read the testimonials of those that made 10k or 1k in their first MONTH. I have heard many of these testimonies myself live and living color. what these people DONT tell is that they either brought people over from a previous company OR they have already build a hugh network of relationships they can tap into and already have the networking skills needed for relationship building. I also say it takes AT LEAST five years to become an overnight success.
It does take at least five years to become an overnight success. Yes, most people who make it big in companies really quickly simply brought over their team from a different company when they switched. Funny thing is no one ever tells you that.
People see those at the top of MLM and want the glitz and glamour, but don’t want to put in the work. Those at the top are enjoying their successes, because they earned it. One thing is certain, everyone starts out at the same place, in the same position. It’s no different for you than it was for them. You have to work hard, be focused on your business and be patient.
The only way to get to the top is to put in the work. This is not about luck, but about working hard and working smart and staying the course until successful.
Great points Chuck. A lot of people get caught up in the ‘moment’ with MLM & spend heaps of money before they’ve made any! You NEED to take a long term view, just like you would with your job. & long term can mean boring, but that’s the reality. A great opportunity does not mean it won’t be hard!!
Great point, Angela. Everyone should take the long-term view.