What do you actually WANT from MLM?

I think there must be a "Magpie" MLM'er in me somewhere....  I used always to be looking for the biggest, brightest, best opportunity, and on occasions I would fall for the lines about how THIS opportunity would lead to mega-bucks and THAT opportunity would cure all ills, or make me a Millionaire.

NO, I'm NOT a Millionaire (YET! - but let's be positive!) and I have to work hard at my "day job" as well as my new Business to make things work for me. But then I guess the hard truth in MLM is that most people fall into the worker bee category rather than the queen bee, for most of the time and certainly to start with. If you don't work in MLM - as with any other business -  you are not going to be successful.  Simple as that. No-one said they would hand it all to you on a silver platter, did they? That you could sit back and just watch the money roll in (oh, and if they did, check out whether they had a long wooden nose and answered to the name Pinnochio?)

One of our Betternetworker colleagues (Rod) has written a great article "Greener Pastures" on a similar topic, and I definitely agree with Rod on this. As well as looking for greener pastures (which is why sometimes people leave one MLM opportunity for another) I believe we can also manifest what I call the Magpie mentality which compels us to look round for the shiniest, brightest, newest, latest, best etc. We are all looking for the "ONE":  That special MLM opportunity will make our lives worthwhile, helps support our families best, pays out the most money from the simplest plan, etc

We are all searching for something but often we don't actually know what "that something" is. What a waste of time and energy! The time to decide what you WANT from your MLM (or indeed any business) opportunity is BEFORE you embark upon it - not midway through. If you don't know what it is that you WANT from your business, how will you know if you have achieved it. I'm not even talking about the business goals here - we can cover that another time - I'm talking about your basic criteria. What makes you choose ONE opportunity over another?

If you don't decide upon that criteria before you start - if you leave it until you have already worked your socks off for a particular MLM business that you thought would make you lots of money but you really didn't understand (or worse still, didn't even like!) then you will become disillusioned with that particular business and drop out of the programme. Sadly after you have already put in some time, effort and money. So instead of looking for that "elusive something", and keep flitting from one opportunity to the next because the current one is disappointing or doesn't fulfil our criteria (criteria that we did not set at the beginning, I hasten to add) we should get back to basics and set a criteria for what we want.

I have finally come back into MLM but NOT this time because I actively sought a new MLM opportunity. In fact, after some very limited success (and with quite of lot of unrewarded expenditure) on my previous MLM business attempts, I had decided that I didn't ever actually want to be part of MLM again!  But, in the words of Dolly Parton (!) Here I Go Again.

This time however, it is because I thought first about what I want from my business. And I have found a Product that I actually love, will use, and believe in (so I am going to buy the product and enjoy it anyway); the fact that I can now also make a lucrative home-based and internet based business out of Healthy Chocolate is fabulous, but to me is only a by-product of the product itself.

So my advice, for what it's worth? Instead of thinking "MLM - now what can I sign up for?" Think instead: "Which product or service could I relate to - what do I enjoy - what would I feel happy using personally (even if I was never paid for it)?"  When you are doing that, it becomes easy. Think of the products you have purchased for personal use over the years, and then recommended to others simply because you have enjoyed using them or felt that your friends or family would benefit from them too. And of course you were never paid for telling them about that great shampoo which made their hair shine, or that sizzling book which they just could not put down  (nor did  you expect any reward for doing so). People were happy that you shared something good with them.

So seek out the MLM opportunity which most closely fits the personal criteria for you. Something that you like, can tell people about without feeling awkward, preferably something that everyone else will already understand (and don't even try to MLM some great technological device - no matter how exciting it might be - if you don't understand it yourself, and if you are going to have difficulty in explaining what it does, how it works etc to everyone)

If you are happy with what you have chosen, then chances are you will stick with it. If you stick with it, you should succeed.

Here's to your MLM success (whatever product you choose!)

Teresita

www.MakeChocolateYourBusiness.com