A Saving account, A Relationship, Entrepreneurship…It’s all the same!

Read that title again. Crazy, right? I bet you are thinking, “What on earth do saving accounts, relationships and entrepreneurships have to do with each other?”  But I promise I am sober. Sit back, read on and I will tell you.

The thought came to me as I participated in a training call with one of the biggest success stories in my primary business. He was encouraging us in our endeavours, but also, more importantly,  asking us to be honest with ourselves, in terms of what we were actually doing. “What have you done lately?”, he asked. And that thought hit me in a different way, because a lot of the time we tend make internal excuses as to why things may not be going too great in our business. But the truth is quite sobering. Just as with a saving account, in a relationship, and with entrepreneurship, What You Can Get Out Is Directly Proportional To What You Put In, and this system is a Continuous Process.

Don’t get me wrong….

With a saving account, the bank you choose does have some responsibility towards you. They have to give you a fair interest rate, make the terms and conditions of the account clear to you so you are well informed, and they also have a duty to protect your money while it is in that account. But unless and until you invest your money with them, they owe you absolutely nothing. And if you only put in about 10 bucks every month, you cannot realistically expect much more than 120 in 12 months time

In a relationship, your partner does have a duty to love you and support you, and generally treat you with the respect and care and consideration that they expect from you. But if you do not respond in the same way, and do not invest that time and effort into reciprocating those actions, I cannot imagine that relationship lasting a long time, and it would be unfair and unrealistic of you to expect them to stick around.

So it is with your MLM business. Your upline does have some responsibility to be available one way or another to you for support and answer some practical day to day questions, and the company has the responsibility towards you in terms of a good compensation plan, a duplicable system and efficient and sufficient training to get you started. But ultimately, whether you succeed as an entrepreneur in this industry or not is essentially DOWN TO YOU. YOU have to go out there and find YOUR prospects, motivate YOURself, get what training YOU need, get what tools YOU need, and grow YOUR network. It is ULTIMATELY DOWN TO YOU!

And to add to that, again as with saving accounts, relationships and entrepreneurship, you CANNOT just rely on past efforts. The fact that you invested $100 9 months ago, but nothing since, still boils down to “not much return”. The fact that you took her out for a gorgeous, lavish meal with an expensive  gift on your anniversary 6 years ago, but haven’t bothered to do anything till now, still boils down to “nothing”. The fact that 5 months ago you had a superstar prospecting month after your training and “showed the plan” to about 5 people a day, but since then, you barely manage 1 a week, still boils down to “not enough”.

So past glories don’t matter. Yes, you did them. They were great, and to be commended. But unless you are making the effort consistently and on a regular basis, I do not see how you can expect to be a successful entrepreneur.

So, as my mentor said, be HONEST with yourself – because the only person that will be deceived is YOU. And this can mean anything, from just going over some training again, to setting a goal of number of contacted prospects. Look within, and ask, “What Have I Done Lately To Move My Business Forward?”

I would love to know what steps you are all taking to move your business forward this year. Please share what goals this post inspired you to reach for!