Staying Focused in Network Marketing

Do you suffer from “the grass is always greener” syndrome? Symptoms include: bad attitude about your current marketing business, distraction, and signing up for programs which claim they can guarantee your success. If you have been surfing the internet for any length of time and are genuinely interested in making more money, you probably have found yourself signing up for the newest and best business opportuntities, hoping this will be the time you will get lucky. Today, I want to talk about one of the reasons why 95% of network marketers fail. Obviously, there are many reasons why so many leave this business, but among these, and probably one of the most important, is a lack of focus or planning. Ask yourself this question: “Do you have a business plan which you are following?” Without one, you are like a ship without a compass in the vast sea of internet opportunities. Do you know where you are going, why and how you are going to get there?

 
A Business Plan is an outline which details your business and how you are going to make it work. Here are some key elements which should be in every network marketers business plan:
 
1. Who are you? Do you know who you are? Can you explain this to other people? Are you confident, motivated, enthusiastic and educated? If you are none of these things, or if you lack one of these elements, you will fail. Network marketing is not easy, and you will use all of these positive character traits to attract people into your business, or sell them your product. I can’t stress this enough. There are countless books written about understanding yourself and other people. I recommend going to your library and just picking up one of these types of books. It will go along way in understanding yourself and your business associates.
 
2. Why are you doing this? You better know exactly why you got into this business or you will be leaving faster than you came. You will want to post this “Why” in a place you can see everyday. You will have more bad days than good when starting out. Having your reasons posted will help you persevere when times get tough.
 
3 What are you selling? Do you fully understand the product you are marketing? Do you know every aspect of that product? This is extremely important, because it will determine who your target audience will be and how you will present it to them.
 
4. Determine your target audience. You will not be marketing to everyone. If you try to market to everyone, you will be marketing to no one. In your business plan, detail who your target audience is and how you plan to put your product in front of them.
 
5. Determine your budget. The first few years of a business are difficult and you will probably not have a very large budget for advertising. Do not become overwhelmed with all of the advertising possibilities. Study each one, look at your budget, and determine which ones are right for you. It is essential that you do this before you begin. Advertising can range from hundreds of thousands per month to absolutely free. If you are a new business, you will want to utilize all of the free advertising resources you can and then pick just a few paid advertising options.
 
6. Determine your hours of operation. All businesses have a start and finish to their day. If you are the work-a-holic business owner like I am, you will find yourself working non-stop. This will only burn you out. Instead, determine what hours you will be working and stick to it. Set up a work day schedule which will detail the hours you will be spending working on advertising, writing articles, answering e-mails, and following up on leads. If you are working on a tight schedule, you will need to carefully plan how you will spend your time.
 
7. Determine the amount of money you want to make and estimate how long it will take you to do this. If you are realistic with your goals and have a well thought out plan, you will not be disappointed when success is not overnight. You will have already determined how long it will take you to reach the goals you are setting, and in knowing that, you will be less likely to give up.
 
These are just some of the things you will want to have in your business plan. They will help you stay focused on your goals. You will want to look at your business plan each day and determine if you are implementing it. If something is not working, such as an advertising campaign, you will want to revise your plan and adjust.
 
To illustrate how a network marketer could easily become distracted, I would like you to do a little experiment with me. Do a google search by typing in the words “the best network marketing company.” What do you see?   There are countless ads and articles written about the best opportunity around.  Every network marketer thinks their opportunity is the best. Usually these opportunites are hyped up and claim to make you rich overnight.   I am sure you  have seen them before, and maybe you are seeing these offers come into your e-mail inbox. If the ad is well written, you will be compelled to sign up for this new offer. Usually the offer is free, so you think that it can’t hurt to check it out. PLEASE ignore these offers. In your daily business, delete anything that does not have to do with your business plan. Don’t even read it! Stay focused and on task and you will move forward. Look at other offers, sign up, get distracted, and you will fall behind your target goals and eventually give up.