Money can’t buy happiness. At least that’s what people like to say. But in reality, people are miserable now, as we slump into the cost-of-living crisis. Yes, having more money doesn’t guarantee happiness. Yet, we know too well that having more money can buy us more options — to choose a different path, potentially one with lesser pain.
Now, the next time you hear people say, “money can’t buy happiness” — do remind yourself that, “being broke won’t buy happiness either.”
The pandemic effect on professional households
Since the pandemic in 2020, there was a surge in corporate professionals joining the network marketing industry. That was the largest increase in the history of network marketing as many of them felt like their job was hanging on a thread. Some had even lost their job during this period.
But it wasn’t just the corporate professionals who were looking for more opportunities in this field. Also joining the rising numbers are the entrepreneurs, business owners and self-employed alike, who had their businesses negatively impacted during the global lockdown and economic meltdown.
As a network marketing professional who has been actively involved in this industry since 2004, I’ve gained tremendously from my active participation in this personal development journey I set myself up. With the experience gained through network marketing, I was able to present on stage and lead a large group of entrepreneurs in networking communities. Only a few months after being inducted into one of the largest business networking organisations, I was appointed as the chapter president, and soon after, a trainer in 3 different regions in my country. I’m not saying that business owners who are not from the network marketing industry can’t do that, but I’m saying that if we absorb all the learnings and invest in our self-education throughout our network marketing journey, our skills would be at par with other business owners and entrepreneurs. That makes networking with like-minded people more practical.
I wasn’t a big fan, to begin with
Truthfully, I wasn’t a big fan of network marketing, MLM or direct selling to begin with. In fact, I would shoo away my friends who tried to sell these business opportunities to me. You won’t be surprised that I did so to my friends if you knew that I was an accountant at that time.
I studied accountancy right after high school. With the distinctions I received for my Diploma studies, I earned a full scholarship to pursue my Professional Accounting Degree, ACCA. Naturally, after graduating with my ACCA degree, I started my first job in an established audit firm.
With poor personal finance management skills, I’ve started accumulating credit card debts. Life was hard trying to juggle between paying off the credit card balances with low take-home pay after all the mandatory statutory deductions. My job also required me to work through the night, and often, the weekends too. That left little to none of my personal time to try any side hustles.
Side hustles. Phew!
Back then, we didn’t have the internet that we have today. There were blogs and websites around, but there were no social media. The only places you could connect with strangers online were public forums where you joined and participated in thread discussions. The key was to include a memorable signature below your name so that when you signed off every post, your signature would be visible for all to see. Some would click on the links in your signature and you’d have gotten yourself a lead. Ha!
Once you’ve got that lead, you would quickly exchange your chat messenger handles. I’m referring to MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger if some of you have never heard of them! We would also follow each other on our public profile, and yes, I’m referring to MySpace, mind you.
One day, I stumbled upon a book with a very catchy title. It caught my attention. I started reading the first chapter, and I was quickly hooked on it. I bought myself a copy and studied it at home. That book changed my life. It was “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki.
In hindsight, that was the start of my self-education journey, to equip myself with knowledge and education that I wasn’t taught in school or college. Reading has always been one of my hobbies during my younger days, but I was more inclined to reading fictional storybooks back then. After finishing that book, I went on to buy the other books in the “Rich Dad” series, such as “Cashflow Quadrant”.
Since then, I’ve invested in many books, learning from different experts on various topics such as:
- entrepreneurship skills
- people management
- personal mastery
- copywriting
- networking
- leadership
- marketing
- sales
Some of the authors who contributed to my personal transformation include Tony Robbins, John C. Maxwell, Jack Canfield, Deepak Chopra, Robin Sharma, T. Harv Eker, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Mitch Albom, David Schwartz and Stephen R. Covey.
As I mentioned earlier; since the pandemic in 2020, there was a surge in corporate professionals joining the network marketing industry. Also joining the rising numbers are the entrepreneurs, business owners and self-employed alike.
The perks of lifelong learning
Most of them did well, shortly after learning the business structure and compensation plan. I would attribute their success to their willingness to unlearn, re-learn and innovate. They take what’s already there, innovate it and cater it to their specific audience. They didn’t duplicate blindly what was told to them.
Phrases like these won’t work on them: “There’s no need to sell! The product sells by itself! Just share with others and start earning passive income. It’s so easy even my 4-year-old nephew can do it!”
What else did the professionals do differently? They treated it like a business.
Treat it like a business
They showed up every day, despite not feeling like it. They tracked their activities and made improvisations where necessary. They set weekly goals, and working towards crushing those goals. They invested in self-education, instead of relying on whatever their uplines would teach them.
The magic word that once was: “Duplication” is no longer magical as it’s been so overused that its meaning is so diluted to a mere “Monkey see, monkey do. Don’t question anything, just follow your uplines, and teach it to your downlines.” On one hand, the speaker on stage would be saying “We build leaders, and you are a leader”. But on the other hand, they want you to follow blindly in the name of ‘Duplication’; as they would say, “You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just follow the proven system.” Yet, the old norm system is now obsolete.
With due respect, most uplines are great people with big hearts. They want the best for you and they have your best interests. Generally, not many uplines are trainers. Even fewer are coaches. Most are cheerleaders and motivators, and they are great at cheerleading and motivating. So, the professionals would learn humility from their great uplines, yet they would invest in self-education to learn new, relevant skills.
What to learn more of?
So, if you’re running a network marketing business, or considering starting one, always be willing to invest in self-education. Place extra interests in learning:
- how to simplify your messages so you can deliver them efficiently
- ways to distinguish a committed team player from a dabbler
- how to coach and mentor others in a goal-oriented setting
- how to quickly build rapport with others online/offline
- productive ways to manage your time effectively
- empathetic listening and communication skills
- effective prospecting in a short period of time
- leadership and people management
- engaging presentation skills
- persuasive communication
- mastering stage presence
Your experience, expertise and education are all part of the assets that you can bring into your network marketing business. Learn to embrace those assets no matter how unrelated they might seem. It’s common for people to put aside their past experiences, expertise and education, especially if they are not related to sales or marketing. That couldn’t be more wrong. I came from an accounting background, where we were not supposed to be seen networking or making friends with our clients, just so we could maintain being seen as independent to them.
Due to my job, I had very little opportunity to hone my skills in communication, sales, marketing, networking, presentation or leadership.
But I learnt that…
If it’s to be, it’s up to me.
I owed it to myself to continue learning, so I could continue expanding my horizons and discover what I didn’t know that I didn’t know.
You can learn anything you set your mind to. Now, with rich information within reach, you can take up a 7-week course from the comfort of your home without having to book a flight ticket and accommodation to attend a 2-day seminar.
My mantra has always been: Start with what you have, from where you are, and learn along the way.
Even after being in network marketing full-time since 2004, I’m still learning, and most importantly, unlearning. Some of the ideas and philosophies that worked extremely well before, simply don’t work anymore.
Remember the 3 Don’ts:
- Don’t be shy to ask for guidance.
- Don’t be shy to admit that you don’t know how to get started.
- Don’t let the ego of your past successes interfere with your learning.
You’ll soon find joy in network marketing, when you begin to see that it’s really NOT about calling all your friends, sign them up and have them call their friends. For me, it’s been a blissful journey of self-awareness, personal development and mastery of resilience in the face of challenges. As you build yourself from within, you build your wealth from your network marketing business.
In the long run, will you enjoy passive income from network marketing? Now that’s for another article from me. So, stay tuned!