From Anti MLM to Top Earner to Skeptic and Slayer: Part 3
Updated: Apr 4
This is not where I recruit you.
Truly, this is not the part where I try to convince you to do what I’m doing. This is the part where I hopefully shed some light on things I’ve learned. This is the part where you get to decide what your time is worth and how you want to spend it. This is the part where you get to make the very personal decision about how you feel when it comes to direct sales, where you hopefully learn that there are different ways for this business to work, and, whether you are here because you hate MLMs or because you love them, this is where you hopefully realize that there are differences in the companies out there and that nothing binds you to anything, because this is your life.
I asked about a business and I met with a man via zoom. He was an entrepreneur, he was extremely successful, and he was charming and kind. I did not take him or the meeting seriously at all. I felt superior to everyone I talked to in this new company because I was not recruitable and I was a badass who had done the impossible online, with a company that was not online. I’d had plenty of people try and recruit me. I knew how these things go…I was humoring them to gain information to help others. I (thought I) knew that all the companies were basically the same.
I was humbled to my core in that call though. I went into the call feeling defensive and unshakable and left with so many questions about what I had been doing and why. I was respected, honored, and not recruited in this call, but given information, and more than anything…my worth was recognized…and I knew it had never been before. It was a large part of the third thing that had started to work a hole through my soul.
Sounds like the guy was a pretty good closer, right? 😂. I get it. All he did though was explain a system, he made sense of what was so wrong and frustrating with most systems, and suddenly I realized that all of the ideas and hopes I had for my business, that had been thrown out over and over again, actually existed already.
There is a new wave of MLMs, and while I feel this should have happened a long time ago…it’s probably right on time.
A company that doesn’t offer a huge discount up front to consultants. To earn money in the business, you have to work the business and sell the products, and/or build a team. WORK? Who wants that? Me, I do, and I wanted a team who wanted it too. As a leader, there is nothing cool about leading people who don’t want to work, and begging people to place orders is not leadership…it’s just gross. It's just as icky as "hey girl messages asking people to share about products they've never even heard of.
(I'm sorry if you do that, you were taught wrong. If it feels weird and icky...it's because it really is.)
This was a company that honors you in two ways, in sales, and in team building. They are not mutually exclusive. You are not required to team build in order to earn a good income or even a title.
A product that translates online, in the place where the vast majority of business transactions now take place. I was not allowed to earn money from any other stream of income with my previous company, it was in the contract I didn’t read when I signed up just to get some free stuff. I wanted to provide value and share good things with people though so I turned down affiliate offers for years and just asked to give discount codes to people. I sold everything via social media, except for the one product I could actually earn money from. It simply didn’t translate without education and ongoing instruction.
A product that is innovative, effective, clinically proven, patented, AND (the real kicker) consumable. When you are selling a product that doesn’t need monthly replacements, then you are always having to find new customers.
A business plan that will not crumble because the average consultant actually earns money. Most data indicates that 99% of people in network marketing lose money or make no money at all. When I looked at the data on my team there was no average income. We “sold” almost half a million monthly, but when divided by my team members that came out to a total wash, the average team member made pennies if anything at all.
Internal consumption models crumble because they are dependent on recruitment and eventually a line will reach people who will not recruit. It begins to bounce back, your income shrinks, the only way to combat this is to continue to build and recruit yourself. Forever.
So am I describing a business where you recruit a bunch of people and then sit at the top with all your money? No…but I am describing one where you actually get to earn what you’re worth, where team members come in with the right expectations and earn money from the start…because there are systems. Because of this, you have a reliable income that grows, a team that is there for the right reasons, and the ability to grow in so many areas outside of your company.
Everyone is going to say they have systems. I had “systems” too in my first company. I had to create them, teach them, bribe people to use them, then completely reevaluate them and redo them every few months or so…because there really weren’t any actual systems.
A company with a good system makes shopping easy for the customer. It offers discounts to the customer just for being a customer…without any pressure to become a team member. It allows us to sell products free of the feeling that we just want you to get hooked and join our team and it allows customers to just love a product and be rewarded for buying it without taking anything away from the salesperson’s earnings. It’s simple and beautiful and healthy and exactly what it should be like for anyone who just wants to buy something that they like. This system also includes a sharing/affiliate link for each customer to share a discount with friends while earning more credits for their future purchases.
I couldn’t stand attending another party, let alone having to run or teach others how to run them. This system helps to grow your business through the best, most reliable, and most comfortable way, word of mouth.
More and more companies are utilizing systems like this. Affiliate codes are offered by the popular companies I buy my jeans and clothing from, drugstores and coffee shops, and hair and makeup companies. It’s clearly an effective business strategy. Getting the chance to work with a company that understood this shift and built a system around it, in an industry with the ability to change anyone’s life was an opportunity I couldn’t possibly pass up.
I had a big decision to make, but it was the right one. It was clear in every way. It’s been 18 months and I’ve never been more proud of myself. Not just for the hard decision, but for being able to take a step out of the narrow view I had, to see something bigger. To notice I was worth more, those who worked with me deserved more, and my family deserves the best version of me…she’s ever-evolving, but she’s showing up every day.
If at any point you want to learn more about what I do or just talk about what you do, my office door is always open.