I was coaching a girl on the team who didn't know exactly what the road ahead would look like. It was like a fog in front of her. Like driving a car without wiper blades in the rain. I had this exact conversation with a leader from another company recently who asked how we could have such success with external customers, and I'm sure it comes down to precisely this: clarity.
If you manage to turn on the wipers and top up the washer fluid, you can drive both faster and safer on the road to the top of the mountain. The art is being able to convey the absolute basics in a simple way, because really it's only about knowledge and activity. The more people who are out in the field doing Basic (sitting in meetings), the faster it goes, as long as we also focus on teaching the cornerstones.
A few years ago I was in Göteborg listening to Donna Johnsson and Tomas Tidlund at an event where they talked about a pair of binoculars and a magnifying glass. Both are important in the process. You use the binoculars when you set a new goal or remind yourself of where you're heading, and you use the magnifying glass when you need to see where to put your foot down in the next step.
Being an entrepreneur is like getting a gym membership and going to the gym. It isn't enough to get the card, because if you don't do anything, nothing happens. If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up. Direct selling works if you work.
Some time ago I had a meeting with a guy whose attitude was: ”I need security. What if that doesn't work for me. I have a secure job.” Then I see him post an update on social media saying he's changed jobs. There are many people who can't see further than the end of next month. Time will pass anyway, so why not start building something that can grow over time?
I've been travelling around the country to kickoffs in January, and many people come up and say ”How nice to see you, what a journey you've made! Wow, what a lot of work...” Which of course was lovely to hear, but at the bottom of it, this is simply what I do. If you go to the gym several times a week you'll get good results in a few years. What you focus on grows, and I've never seen anything with more potential leverage and capacity than direct selling.
I'm just as obsessed with the idea of helping people build a direct selling organisation as a nutritionist is with preaching that we should eat more healthily. It's a bit embarrassing when there are people with no competence or insight who make pronouncements about how a sales organisation should or shouldn't be built. It's simply a lack of knowledge.
”In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.” -Donny Miller
What do you expect? If you have 100 customers in your network today and you increase by 10% a month, you'll have close to 1,000 customers in 24 months and could certainly go full time if that's your ambition. I've seen several people on the team build up a customer base like that from zero in a year, and I know it all comes down to determination.
If you invest the time, are coachable and do the right things, the results will come. Last year we grew by almost 100%. In 2016 we grew by just over 200%. We'll soon pass 10,000 external customers in the organisation as a whole (customers who don't earn money or hold any position in the network).
It's about listening to people with their heart in the right place who have done it successfully. There are mentors who can help you go all the way. Time will pass regardless.
2018 can be your year. What are you waiting for?
