Copyright 2005 Donovan Baldwin
In his book, "Super Prospecting: Special Offers and Quick-startSystems", Tom "Big Al" Schreiter tells the story of an oldlumberjack who observed a young lumberjack laboring to chop downa tree. After watching the youngster work himself to nearlyexhaustion without accomplishing much, the old man said, "Looksto me like it'd be easier if you sharpened the axe."
To which the younger man replied before returning to his attackon the tree, "I don't have time to sharpen the axe, I have toget this tree cut down."
Now, it seems obvious to most of us that a sharp axe wouldprobably make the work go faster and easier. The younglumberjack would be able to cut down more trees with less workjust by taking a few minutes to sharpen his axe. Prepare histools. Learn his trade, you might say!
You know, it's funny. Most of us have no problem seeing thepoint of that story, but everyday, people sign up for networkmarketing programs and then start hacking away with very bluntaxes! Most of these folks have no idea of what network marketingis, how to go about it, or how to measure success.
I recently received an email from a gentleman interested ingetting into network marketing. He asked some very insightfulquestions, but one demonstrated his misunderstanding of mostgenuine network marketing programs.
He asked, if I remember correctly, how long it would take tomake a significant income from a certain network marketingprogram, and seemed to indicate that he would expect a sucessfulprogram to generate an income of about $48,000 or more within arelatively short period of time. Otherwise, he would consider ita scam.
Well, honestly, I guess my two friends who I often hold up asexamples somehow missed that point. It took each of them aboutthree years in perfectly legitimate programs to begin makingmoney anything like what my correspondent expected. At thatpoint, by the way, their incomes began to grow exponentiallyuntil they were taking home over $100,000.00 a month. We'll saynothing about countless Avon ladies who are network marketerswho consider themselves successfully affiliated with an honestcompany but whose income is less than $20,000.00 a year.
Or, I guess I should be concerned about my affiliation with anationally recognized company (you've probably seen theircommercials on prime time). The first year, I only made a fewhundred dollars. The second year a few thousand. I'm in my fifthyear with them, and I am now making the magical number...a sixfigure income from that program alone. I presently have over 200fully satisfied customers and tons of repeat business. What ascam!
I don't mean to insult the gentleman who sent me the question.His questions were valid, and I understand his concerns andapplaud his attempt to gain some insight into network marketing.However, it appears his understanding of network marketing islimited to a desire to find a program that will in some way dothe work for him...make income for him. Unfortunately, networkmarketing is a business...albeit a special kind ofbusiness...and it works best when worked certain ways. Manysuccessful network marketers have written many excellent booksand articles on the subject, and there are marketing andinternet marketing training programs available for those whowish to learn. Some colleges are even offering courses andclasses on network marketing and internet marketing.
People going into network marketing should be doing more thansimply listening to the person who recruits them and scanningthe company literature. If they were hired to do any job theyhad never done before, no matter how menial, they wouldrecognize the need to familiarize themselves with the businessand how it is conducted. Especially if they intended to rise inthe business and succeed.
A few books the beginning network marketer might want to readare:
Super Prospecting: Special Offers & Quick-Start Systems by Tom"Big Al" Schreiter Your First Year In Network Marketing by Markand Rene Yarnell The Wave 4 Way To Building Your Downline byRichard Poe The Greatest Networker In The World by John MiltonFogg Off-The-Wall Marketing Ideas by Nancy Michaels and Debbi J.Karpowicz
These tend to be a little old but can probably be found thruAmazon.com, and they are excellent education for the beginningnetwork marketer.
The person who fails to educate himself or herself about networkmarketing in general and their chosen business in particular,has chosen to fail. Like the young lumberjack, they will flailat the tree until their strength or motivation fails them, andthen they will wander into the forest...perhaps complainingloudly about trees, axes, lumberjacks...anything but themselves.They will not know why they failed, how they could havesucceeded, or how to measure success.
Their axes will be dull, indeed.
About the author:
Retired from the Army, the author has worked as an accountant,purchasing agent, optical lab manager, restaurant manager,instructor and long-haul truck driver. An active internetmarketer since 2000, he now makes his living online. Find moreof his articles at http://donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com
