FROM: The School of Entrepreneurship Project
~ A journal writing session based on notes from a weekly webinar
After attending the webinar last night and reviewing my notes this morning, I feel excited that I made a decision to allow the Network Marketing business model to get me free. It’s simple, easier than the traditional business model, and this model has the added excitement and motivation associated with empowering/mentoring others.
More than once, last night, Steve (Steve Merritt: ranked 4th in income earned in the history of the industry and our mentor/team leader), mentioned the business model as one which includes mentorship by people dedicated to your productivity and success. I love that. It rings true, and it will ring true for those looking for a way out of slavery – the slavery of owning and operating a traditional business and/or the slavery of being an employee in someone else’s traditional business.
Another business owner may empower employees to acknowledge and enjoy ownership in the company, leveraging their efforts while, at the same time, empowering workers, but this is rare and virtually non-existent.
Social Good Promotions (Roger Burnett) comes to mind. He has a vision to empower underserved communities through training employees to duplicate his company by allowing them to take ownership of their very own marketing business.
I can see RAVEN further assisting a Manufacturing company in Detroit to eventually incorporate any number of ways to create a culture and empower their employees and the community at large.
Still, until these companies adopt a compensation plan like the model found in Network Marketing, no one really gets free.
Steve and his wife, Gina, (mentioned above as the webinar presenters) became free in less than one year! They leveraged the compensation plan at Jeunesse Global. Now, their lifestyle consists of travel, working anywhere, anytime, with anyone they choose. They have time freedom, “working”15 hours/week for a seven-figure income. Their travel consists of visiting their teams and communities around the world to support their success and productivity.
Excitement? Yes. Not only do Steve and Gina have a business in over 100 countries, but they also travel to these places, not only to relax and recreate, but to educate and inspire communities of like-minded people. With all the talk today about making sure you have community in your life, Steve and Gina exemplify this lifestyle like no one else.
On another note, I think the webinar stresses the “e-commerce” / online business model too much as a way to avoid the stigmas attached to Network Marketing. This fear of preconceived notions about our industry, in the short and long run, will sabotage the success of a team. Network Marketing is about embracing and Mastering the “Seven Habits” to enjoy and experience business success in a New Consciousness (The Raven Institute/Eric Worre). Anything else turns into just another traditional business – empowering no one, becoming a burden to those engaging in the lower frequency activities of a traditional model (more later).
LOOP: Reflection
The Network Marketing business model allows for a lifestyle where passion and purpose are the threads, running through our daily life. An “e-commerce” focus sets up a burden, a traditional business lifestyle: Always starting over, constantly having to replace and reinstall customers, void of the principles of duplication and leveraging. Recruiting people into our community/teams, on the premise of managing an online business is problematic. This approach empowers no one. It leaves, at the outset, the principles of the industry a secret: the challenge and the opportunity to grow personally and professionally as the core criteria of enjoying sucess in the industry. Furthermore, this attraction to an “e-commerce” approach does not attract those who are ready/looking, who are coachable, and willing to learn/grow personally and professionally and then duplicate the process.
Those Core Principles/Skills to Master
- Deciding to be a professional
- Recruiting
- Personal/professional development
- Preparation
- Storytelling
- Listening
- Reflecting
* There are subcategories and skills that fall under all of the above items on the list (see Go Pro, Worre). RAVEN also teaches a synthesized approach with what we call our Studio of Seven Habits