Fishing for Prospects in Your Network Marketing Opportunity

Fishing is a wonderful pastime for many.  It is not something I ever got interested in, until recently.  I can see the attraction though.  Imagine sitting on the bank of a stream or river in your lawn chair feeling the warmth of the sun, enjoying your favorite beverage, maybe reading a good book or chatting with your buddies as you wait to hear the bell ring on your pole.  Is that how it really works?  Ahhh, what a life.  I like the relaxed leisurely picture that comes to my mind even without fishing.  :) 
 
My 4 year old grandson, Taylor, brings his loaded tackle box to our house regularly and excitedly opens it and begins telling me about all the pieces inside.  I learn a lot from Taylor.  As he tells me, in great detail, about all his bobbers, hooks, weights, lures and shrimp gel (that he says smells like rubber), I get one of those "ahah" moments and I began thinking about how many ways fishing can be compared to our network marketing business.

The first thing is that he has a great mentor already.  His daddy is teaching him everything he knows about fishing.  They work, (or in their case play) closely together.  Of course, you can see the parallel here with your network marketing business.  Having a mentor is one of the key ingredients to learning something new and becoming successful at it. 

Next, Taylor's daddy is teaching him where to find the fish.  It could depend on what kind of fish you want to catch. The same with our network marketing business when looking for partners we need to learn where we can find them. It's important to go where the fish are.  What is your target market?  Be sure and fish for prospects in the right stream.

There are so many pieces to the puzzle of fishing just as there are to learning a network marketing business.  I don't know much about fishing, but it seems like all the little gadgets work together to help you get your fish.  Taylor tells me all about the different kinds of hooks and lures.  For example one kind of hook is for catching salmon and another kind for catching trout.  And the many different lures.....well the word speaks for itself.  And don't forget to use the right bait!  Just like in our network marketing business we have different kinds of marketing strategies to catch the attention of our prospects such as article writing, videos, ebooks, social networking or traffic exchanges.  We learn and test what works and we use the ideal marketing strategy that works for us.  Sometimes figuring out what works best takes some time and testing.

My head swims with interest as Taylor chatters on, teaching me about fishing.  The same with our network marketing business, as we learn, we pass on to others what we know, helping them to learn the business.  It's a well known fact that the path to becoming a leader is to teach and train others what you have been taught.

And did you know that sometimes you have to throw the fish that you catch back in the water?  Taylor tells me after measuring it with his stick, they discover it is too small or illegal to keep.  Sadly, it kind of works that way in our network marketing business too.  Sometimes we have to let go of a prospect for one reason or another.  It could be their choice or ours, but we realize we are not a suitable match for each other.

A teacher, a great fishing hole, the pole, the line, all the bobbers, spin glows, weights, lures, measure sticks, fake worms, etc, have a purpose when it comes to fishing. They are all basic and necessary ingredients to help us fish successfully.  We also need important foundational pieces in our network marketing business that all fit together to enable us be successful.   The essential mastermind team, personal development, a great company, a system to generate leads.....to name a few...are very necessary pieces to our marketing puzzle.

Taylor's daddy fishes as much as possible!  However, most of the time he comes home without any fish. He tells Taylor's mommy, "Well, you can't catch fish if you don't go fishing."  Yes, that is true but it sounds like he needs to try a different stream, hook or lure.  What do you think?

It's amazing the lessons I can learn from a 4 year old.  I never knew anything about dinosaurs until Taylor started sharing with me.  And then there are dump trucks, diggers, bulldozers, graders, belly dumps, excavators......well the list goes on.  Maybe there is a story there for another day. 

But for now, it's time to go fishing.  :)

Lynn Jones
http://www.teamplayersnetwork.com