How many times have you said or thought this: “Why am I not making sales?” “Why is it taking so long?” “Why do I suck?”

The fact is that EVERYBODY sucks in the beginning. Anyone who feeds you a line of crap telling you that you will make hundreds of thousands of dollars in your first months in network marketing is probably lying to you. Why?

Because network marketing, like any other business, takes time to build. It takes effort. It also takes hard work. You have to be focused, and focused on the right actions. If you are following distracted effort with weak marketing, you are doomed.

So remember, everyone struggles at one time or another. And if more “mentors” and “gurus” were honest, that is exactly what they would tell you.

And if they would only put their egos aside and be real like that, then more learning would occur and your journey toward network marketing success would be much quicker and less frustrating. That is what mentorship is supposed to be about.

Okay, enough ranting, a little about me…

When I first got started in network marketing I struggled, too. I followed advice from people that called themselves “gurus”. They had their buddies refer to them as “gurus” on internet chat sites and blogs. Their advice was spotty, broad-brush and limited. They would give me “hints” and “tips” rather than no-kidding training.

It would be like me asking you how to get from San Diego to New York, and having you say, “Drive east until you see water.” Thanks a lot.

But that is what a lot of so-called “experts” basically do. The industry trend has been toward “duplicatable systems”; well, the harsh reality is that 95% of the people in this industry fail to achieve a status that allows them to actually fire their boss and generate a full-time income.

So why would you want to duplicate their systems? And if you are doing that, and not having success, why are you surprised at the results?

Don’t get me wrong; there are a lot…A LOT…of highly successful people out there that are pumping out major sales and making a fantastic living working from home.

I have been very fortunate to have several of them as mentors, and you know what they say…birds of a feather…BUT, it took a long time and painful agony to begin to infuse their teachings into actual results. And it wasn’t for lack of trying.

In the beginning, I lacked experience, lacked knowledge, and lacked guidance. But what it ultimately took was a few very compassionate and skilled experts to literally show me step-by-step how they achieved success.

So by now you are probably asking, “Great, JT, so show me how to be in the 5% of the winners. Show me how to get that success you always talk about.”

Now here is the fork in the road…more specifically, here is where the rubber meets the road: You have decide right now if you want to build a home business that will generate full-time income.

Once you have decided that, you have to commit to doing whatever it takes to making that dream a reality.

This industry is abundant and loaded with opportunities for everyone to succeed. There is no excuse for you or anyone else to fail in network marketing.

But unless you have in-depth training brought to you by experienced, sincere and dedicated mentors, the odds are against you. You need to follow a strong leader (or leadership of several), at least in the beginning.

One of the most rewarding things I encounter in my business is watching a person in my down line take off and grow into a leader. Watching them succeed tells me that I served them in the best capacity I could as a leader, and now they, too will continue the trend of giving back and helping others.

That is the point, right? A good leader shows their team how to succeed. A strong leader conveys the training necessary to empower everyone around them to achieve massive success.

Let’s face it; the business is the same for everyone involved: the products, services, comp plan…everything is the same for everyone. I have said this time and time again.

So if a leader really wants to teach you how to succeed, they will give you this one piece of wisdom right off the bat:
People do not join a business. They join you.

People want to—they need to—follow strong leaders. Rarely will a person join a business to teach themselves how to market, how to manage business affairs, and how to succeed in a new frontier. They are looking for leadership.

But at the same time, people do not want to follow forever, to be herded from one marketing scheme to the next.

What people want is to be empowered by strong leaders who have skills and value. Being skilled and value-laden is the goal of every true entrepreneur. And sharing those talents is the passion of every massively successful person you find, regardless of the walk of life.

But there is a lot that falls directly on YOUR shoulders as well. As the saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make the horse drink it.” I could tell you everything you need to know, even give you free leads, but until you believe in the system and yourself, and apply the knowledge, you will not see the results for which you seek.

Taking the initiative to make yourself better in every aspect of your business is what is required. Every leader has done it, and has “paid their dues” in the form of hard work, self-sacrifice, and dedication to becoming better in every way.

But that is the beauty of the whole journey: once you have a strong leader show you the way, and once you follow through with massive and dedicated action, you will find the transformation and success is SO sweet, so rewarding, and so worth all of the sacrifices a long the way.

The next time somebody offers you a “quick score” system that “guarantees massive results” ask yourself (and the person pitching it to you) who YOU will become by joining the business. Find a company that fits YOU. Find a business that resonates with YOU, and makes YOU a powerful leader and entrepreneur. Then go full-throttle! Make it happen and enjoy the journey.

See you in the next post…
~JT