Hey! Your Upline DOES Owe You Something!

You owe yourself something!

Well Tony, I'll have to say that our upline doesn't owe us anything or anyone. Perhaps the meaning of taking responsibility has to be elaborated in this case.

Taking responsibility means you should be the one asking your mentor for help - some of us sit around expecting our uplines to lay everything out for us as if they are working the business for us and they owe us a living since we "paid" them. NO! You owe yourself everything! You should be the one asking for help and not sitting around expecting someone is going to help you just because you signed up for an opportunity.

Ask you shall receive - as we all have heard several times. In this case, it is very true as the essence of asking is where we really learn and are able to apply. Asking also shows one thing to your upline, you are interested in your success. Well, if you have the attitude of asking and your upline doesnt respond - who should you be blaming if you still dont succeed right?

Well, it's still yourself! There's so much information available out there nowadays and communities such as betternetworker set-up, there really isn't any excuse if we dont get the results we are looking for.

So are you giving yourselves excuses today or are you persisting for the results you desire? Are you playing the victim or taking action?

Thanks for offering a hand to help those out there Tony! ;) Love the sharing.. definitely a great discussion!

Regards,
Darren Spruyt

Yes Darren

We owe ourselves something - in fact we owe ourselves EVERYTHING including asking our uplines for help. And when we do that they owe us answers based on their experience and on the truth.

As I read through all 134 comments to Mike's post, I was astonished that so many people couldn't carry these two thoughts in their heads at the same time: that while we are responsible for our own individual success, our uplines are indebted to us for furthering their businesses and that to "pay back" that debt they owed us training & mentoringship when we ask for it. Let's be clear: They certainly don't owe us a liveliehood.

The shame of it is that the general networking population has become so conditioned into believing that each of us is in this on our own.

Hasn't anyone ever heard of teamwork? Hasn't anyone ever been or known a leader, a true leader, one who understands that it's not about ego and power but about serving those UNDER them.

Thanks for the post. I hope to hear much, much more about this.

Well Said Tony

If you have someone join you in your company and you have told them that they will be able to reach their dreams and goals then you have made a promise to help them. Therefore, you do owe them your help or as you said mentorship. You cannot make the person take action, but you do owe them any and all the help you can give them.

Timothy C Burns
http://TimBurns.BigMlmLies.com

Go upline until you find what you need.

Once you become educated, its your responsibility seek out your upline leadership that you can feel most comfortable working with. You may have to go up several levels to find a match, and your upline should be there for you, once you've come to them for help. They should help by pointing you to the solution for what you need, and help you hands on when you need more assistance. You should also be working with a team of individuals, who are happy to help if asked, no matter where they are in the team, even side line. That's more the Mastermind principle Dr. Hill teaches, and the benefit to all is greater than what is achieved working in a linear fashion.

Great Advice

Thanks Paul. That is great advice. If your immediate upline is not there for you with answers, direction, advice and mentoring continue up the line - or across it - until you find what you need to succeed. And if your company doesn't allow any of this, contact me.

Well Said

You should be able to use you upline like going to the library.
If your upline is not answering your question and you feel they are not mentoring you properly, you have the right to switch mentors and get the answers you are looking for.
To Your Success.

Owing isn't exactly the word I would use

My upline presented an opportunity to me. An opportunity to start my own business. I saw the potential, asked the right questions, was satisfied with the answers and I started. Now does my upline owe me time, training, mentoring?
In the business world the answer would be "no". I could include it in the terms but in my experience I have not seen that in the P&Ps of any network marketing opportunity I have looked at. So therefore the answer to does your upline "owe" you, the answer would be "no".
However, I personally will help anyone on my team who shows me they have the desire to succeed. Not because I owe them but because they have shown the initiative to learn, grow and do.
As a successful upline sponsor the term I would use rather than "owe" would be "loving expectations" on both sides. You expect me to teach you and I expect you to follow through on those teachings. Anything less is "playing at being a network marketer" and I have people to spend time with that are serious about building.
To your success,
Joyce Penner

"Owe" is Precisely the Word

Hi Joyce,

Thanks so much for your comment. I appreciate your input.

However, I chose the word "owe" because I believe it descibes exactly part of an upline/downline relationship.

When I was presented the opportunites I joined (3 are now history, thank goodness!) I was promised help and training. When I signed on I was furthering that recruiter's business and when I enrolled in an autoship arrangement I became an INTEGRAL PART of my upline's income. To put it bluntly - I was furthering my Upline's business as my Upline was making money from my particiaption in his/her business. Rightfully so.

It was part of my responsibility to get on that autoship. (If there isn't a consumable product with an ongoing reorder mechanism you don't have an MLM, you have a scam.) This ordering and consumption is a piece of my Upline's business; in other words, I AM HIS CUSTOMER, as well as being an independent distributor in our company as well.

As a consultant years ago I was asked to work with a restaurant's wait staff, all of whom were immigrants. To help them better understand the workings of the business, I asked them who paid them. Each said the same thing: the owner.

Wrong answer. The customers who come in each evening to dine, relax, enjoy and be served pay the staff's salaries. The owner is simply redistrbuting the money.

The customer is King. In every business. I am a customer to my Upline and those in my downline are my customers. I owe them, when they ask for it, what I promised them when I brought them into my business: help, training, advice, mentorship and answers. This does not mean I owe them success. That is their responsibility. Nor must I answer or do it all for them. There are other experts on our team better qualified to address some of their problems or tell then where to find their own solutions. But I do owe them what I promised them when I got them to go into business with me.

Seems to me this is the difference between sponsoring and recruiting. The latter is better left to the military where orders are given and obeyed - and rightfully so.

A time and a place for everything.

To Your Success,
Tony Lauria

I agree with OWE

I have been a customer service oriented person for many years, so, it becomes natural for me to help my downline grow, providing them with proper training, so they will be able to operate on their own. I don't promise the moon and the stars either, I let them know, that it will take work and planning, and I help them execute their plan. So I do owe them something, the knowledge to become successful.

BINGO!

Thanks Gwendolyn. You got it!

When I help my downline I help myself; conversely, when my upline helps me they help themselves. Isn't that what good business is about? Isn't that why we got into this networking gig to begin with?

It seems those most opposed to an upline owing anything to a downline are only in it for the recruiting. No mention at all about retailing a product. But when the recruiting stops, does the income stop as well?

I don't wanna be standing, looking for a chair when the music stops!

Hey Tony

"Quote" I owe them, when they ask for it, what I promised them when I brought them into my business: help, training, advice, mentorship and answers.
You hit the nail on the head there, Tony. "When they ask for it."
We all have people in our organizations that say "I want to be successful," and yet the answer to "What have you done this week to get there?" has been Excuse #1 .........., Excuse #2 ....... and on and on. You cannot help anyone who isn't prepared to step up to the plate and do the activities necessary to achieve their dreams. Does that mean you are rude or don't return their phone calls? Of course not. But it's not a matter of the upline being either a recruiter or a sponsor, it's a matter of spending more time with the ones who truly want the advice and detailed training that you can offer.
Why spend your valuable time with the ones who "wish" they were successful when hopefully you have some who "want" to be successful?
To your success,
Joyce Penner

YUP!

Thanks again Joyce.

Yes, the key here is "when they ask for it". I have never advocated being a mommy or daddy to a downline or looking for that from an upline. It is NOT the job of any upline to motivate or discipline.

If one doesn't have the burning "WHY" deep in there, there ain't a whole lot anyone's gonna do about it!

Motivation is an INSIDE job! Without it, stay out of this industry for your own good.

But I do think there is a distinction between a sponsor and a recruiter.

The sponsor wants to develop a working (sometimes even a personal) relationship with someone they have brought in. A sponsor, in a very real sense, is vouching for the newbie, telling his/her peers, "I know this person and he/she will make a good addition to our organization." Doors are opened and help is available because upline will know, "Oh, that person was sponsored by Tony or Joyce."

A recruiter says, "Welcome. Next." It's more like what the military does. Sign you up and ship you off to someone you've never seen before. You are processed and trained and moved along. It works. For the military.

Yes your up line Owes you something

They owe you what they said they would give you. Just that simple so find out what they will give you Before you join. know your P and P's and your comp plan. does your upline? Can they teach you how to fish? If not you need to start looking for a Mentor. Who won't as for your Arm Leg and your Check book.
Thanks Tony
Juanita Waterman

Hey Tony

Where people I think get totally confused is that you are both: a recruiter and a sponsor (or should be). You bring someone into your opportunity (you've recruited them) then you start the training (sponsoring). As a sponsor I respond to the level of desire someone has to be successful, spending more quality time with those who truly desire success.
Somewhere the word recruiter has been given an negative spin - erroneously I believe. To build a business you need to recruit. To grow that business into a solid, high retention, profitable venture - you need to become a sponsor (train, coach and mentor).
Way too many systems have a huge learning curve and it takes too long for someone to start earning their first hundred dollars. Keep it simple. Use a non complicated, easily duplicatable method, simply taught and your new recruit will be making money in the first few days. Then you can start them on the journey of personal development and growing into a leader worthy of a huge organization, if that is their desire.
Case in point - have you noticed the abundance of people who blog about how to become a great leader or how to be successful at network marketing and it is obvious they aren't on their company's leader board with any significant growth. The backwards strategy of becoming a leader first and then the money will come is a phony front and contributes to the skepticism that has invaded the industry. How can you lead when you haven't found the correct path to start your own journey to financial freedom?

I agree with Juanita. Find out what type of company training or upline training is available (without the hype), ask your upline(s) about the length of time it took them to realize any kind of financial gain, read the P&Ps and find out if you can live with the rules the company has in place (and whether the company management has the integrity they claim they have), determine whether the comp plan is encouraging or discouraging. Don't believe everything you hear. Do your own research. Question what you are told. Sorry Juanita didn't understand your last sentence so am unable to agree or disagree with it.

Your upline is not responsible for your success or failures. You are. If they cannot provide you with what you need - go upline. Anyone who understands the concept of business and looking after their team will be there for you (unless the comp plan discourages them financially when they do that).
Great topic Tony. The written word has a tendency to clarify not only your own thoughts but others learn from that clarification.
To your success,
Joyce Penner

AMEN

Joyce,

I KNEW we were on the same page!

As you and Juanita both strongly suggest, when looking for an opportunity we have to check out every aspect of it, question as much as we can, look into the management, company, product, comp plan and support level and if we can't get it from our immediate Upline keep going Up. Or across. And if the company won't let you, well, that's a red flag.

Everyone needs help occasionally. It is not a sign of weakness or a blot on our name.

It's your life. Demand what you need but earn it with your effort.

Can I quote you?

Demand what you need but earn it with your effort is a fantastic sentence. If you don't mind I'd love to quote you.
Thanks
Joyce

Sure Thing

You can quote me.
Is there anything else I can do for you?