Warning! Watch out for fake driving instructors!

Have you ever heard the expression “fake it ‘til you make it”?  Or have you ever been told to do just that by your ever-so successful upline?

Did it feel right to you?

For most of us, it won’t feel right at all.  If your honesty and integrity is important to you, then “faking it ‘til you make it” just won’t sit well with you…because it means you are not being honest, and not valuing your own personal integrity.

Why should you try to be someone you’re not, in order to convince other people to join you in your downline?  If you’re faking it, it means that you are bringing people to you under false pretences.  And you can’t sustain that “faked you” for very long, so they’ll soon find you out.  And then what?  Off they go to join that parallel universe.

So what’s this got to do with marketing?

Well, as I've mentioned in a previous article, network marketing is a “people buying people” business.  What we’re marketing is ourselves.  Not our company, nor our products, or comp plan, or Super Star upline.  Actually, your prospects couldn’t give two hoots about those.  What they’re interested in is whether YOU can help them get from where they are now to where they want to be.  Can you help them out of their financial hole? Could you help them leave their husband? (Don't laugh - my upline had someone join to do just that!).  Can you help them get their kids onto the holiday of a lifetime?

Your company, products, comp plan and so on are just a vehicle to get you - and your prospect - from A to B. 

Remember when you learned to drive?  It was your instructor that taught you, not the car.  It was your instructor that you felt safe with, not the car.  When I learnt to drive I was terrified of the car (I'm fine now!), but I trusted my driving instructor, and was thankful for the fact that he had dual controls!  I can’t remember what car I learnt to drive in (it was white if that’s any help!).  But I bet it was different from yours.  You see, whilst we’re learning this business, generally the vehicle (ie the company and so on) doesn’t matter.  But the driving instructor does.

And in network marketing, the driving instructor is you.

What if your driving instructor had “faked it until he made it”.  That could have tragic and fatal consequences.  If it wasn't fatal, you’d almost definitely never trust him again and you’d probably never get back into a car again.

So, be true to yourself.  You are the hub of your business.  You are what people are attracted to.  You are the driving instructor.  And you are what people will buy.  Every time.  And they want the real you, not a fake you.  The marketing for your business should start with you:  who you are, what you’re about, what your values are, what’s special and unique about you and so on.  Everything else is secondary.

And ignore all those “fake it ‘til you make it” comments!