Let’s talk about how to succeed with network marketing.

Like really.

Let’s be honest.

If you’re reading this and you’re already in a network marketing business, you likely got in it for one reason…

To make money!

And you know what?

That’s OK!

You will find many articles and videos on YouTube telling you that money isn’t a good enough “why” to be successful in network marketing.

And there’s some truth to that, but those types of platitudes are not going to resonate with someone who’s brand new to the business and simply wants to be successful.

When I first got into the network marketing business years ago, I wanted to make money.

Period.

Full stop.

And that’s OK for the first while.

But as time goes on and as your network marketing organization starts to grow, you are going to have to realize that you need a deeper reason to pull you forward in your career.

Here’s what you will eventually realize…

It’s not the money that you want.

It’s the stuff and experiences that money will buy you.

Being poor sucks.

It’s way better to be wealthy.

And money is only a part of being wealthy.

El Chapo Guzman is probably one of the richest people on earth in terms of money…

But he’s stuck in a New York prison in solitary confinement.

Is he truly wealthy?

I would argue NO.

In this time of economic upheaval that we’re living in, there are more people than ever looking for alternative ways to earn income.

People have lost their jobs for various reasons, and the data shows that millions of people have actually quit their jobs.

They’ve realized that life is too short to put up with the crap that many employees have put up with for years.

This is the time for the network marketing business model to shine.

So let’s talk about how to be successful with network marketing.

1. Mindset

The business of multi level marketing doesn’t have the best reputation.

Many people have had poor experiences with the network marketing business, which will cause many of your business candidates to be very skeptical of the opportunity you’re presenting.

This can often feel like a personal attack on you.

But you need to realize that the people in your life truly don’t care what you do.

They spend exactly zero time thinking about you or your goals.

If you give a prospect a call and ask them if they’re open to taking a look at your business presentation, they might give you a very firm “No way!”

Then you feel deflated and maybe even embarrassed.

But why?

The person you just talked to immediately forgets about you, grabs their phone and proceeds to watch cute cat videos on YouTube. 

It doesn’t matter.

You know you have a good opportunity.

That’s all that matters.

You are your own person.

Just do your own thing and don’t think that you need approval or validation from anyone around you.

You can not control what other people do or say.

They are viewing the world through a different lens than you are, based on their own past experiences.

And besides, you are looking for people who are looking for an opportunity.

You’re not looking for those who aren’t looking.

It’s not your job to “convince” anyone that they need a side hustle.

Once you develop a rock solid, unshakeable confidence in yourself and your business, you will start to care less about the NOs you get.

It’s simply a numbers game…

You have to work through the NOs in order to get to the YESes.

The YESes are the people that are already looking for an opportunity and don’t really need convincing.

2. Commit To Succeed With Network Marketing

You will also need to keep your expectations in check.

You have to understand a few things.

Most people are likely not looking for a side hustle.

At least not yet.

For now, they’re happy with the status quo and they feel secure where they are in their life. 

For those that do join your network marketing business, you should be prepared for most of them to drop out.

And that’s OK, too.

They were never going to make it anyway and were likely going to waste your time. 

There may be some people that don’t really take you seriously based on their past experiences and interactions with you.

This is OK, too.

You’re only human; we’re all fallible and have had some negative interactions with people in the past.

If you need personal growth, you know it.

We’ll come back to personal development later.

The point is, you will need to commit at least a year to your MLM business.

Commit to that right now.

I want you to look at your first year in the business like an evaluation period. 

You’re most likely not going to make a life-changing income in your first year anyway.

You should realize that now and prepare yourself for that outcome.

This way, you won’t be completely disheartened and impatient after six months go by and you’re still not a multi-millionaire.

The reality is, a network marketing business is a financially low risk, low overhead endeavor.

This makes it an excellent opportunity for the regular Joe and Jane to start a very profitable business. 

BUT the network marketing business is a high scrutiny endeavor.

You and your recruits will face scrutiny and negativity from those around you as you build.

Unless you commit at least a year to “evaluate” and work hard during that evaluation period, you’re not gonna make it.

So again, commit at least a year of working hard before you decide it’s not for you.

Just know what’s coming in the near term.

3. Build The Foundation

When you first get started in a network marketing business, the world is your oyster.

You’ve got lofty dreams of mansions and supercars.

But this will not last.

As the saying goes…

Everything that goes up must eventually come down.

So you should hit the ground running as soon as you get started before you lose motivation.

Your network marketing business leader will likely give you a “Getting Started” package of some sort.

Every organization will have a slightly different process to get you off to a fast start.

Just do what you’re taught…

Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that you know how to build the business better than those that have done it before you.

Here are 11 Build The Foundation Steps that are universal to the network marketing business, regardless of which company you’ve joined, that you should take immediately.

I. Place An Activation Order

Most companies will require you to place an initial activation order to qualify for a distributorship.

Use this as an opportunity to learn about your products and get excited about them.

It’s also a good idea to always have some products on hand so that you can sell some directly to potential customers if such a situation presents itself.

II. Set Up Your Autoship

Don’t look at this as a business expense, even though you may be able to use this as a tax write-off. 

Think of it this way…

You wouldn’t start any other type of business but then go buy products from your competitors for personal consumption, right?

You wouldn’t open an auto repair shop and then go to your local dealership to get your oil changed.

This should be common sense.

Besides, many of these products will likely replace other products that you’re already spending money on.

Only now, you have higher quality products and wholesale prices.

III. Learn Your Back Office

You will probably be spending a lot of time in your online back office so you should know your way around.

Learn how to set up and modify your autoship orders, how to place extra orders when necessary, and where to find the various products, sponsorship line contact details, and other information.

IV. Connect With Your Sponsorship Line

Let your sponsorship line know you’re here to work and build and you’re looking forward to learning from them and getting to know them better.

V. Go Through Distributor Kit

Set aside a block of time to read all the material in your distributor kit.

You will find information about the company’s policies.

You’ll learn about the nuances in your compensation plan.

You will also find a code of ethics which will outline what the company does and doesn’t approve of when you’re recruiting new team members.

VI. Apply For Business Credit Cards

This isn’t some pie in the sky hobby you’re doing.

You’re setting up the foundation to build a serious, profitable, long term network marketing business.

You should separate your personal finances from your business finances.

This will keep things simple for you and your tax professional.

Open a separate DBA (Doing Business As) checking account and apply for a business debit and credit card.

VII. Schedule The Next Live Event

It is crucial that you attend your company’s events if you want long term success in network marketing.

Meeting the top earners in your MLM company as well as other like-minded people who are just getting started will completely change the way you think about your business.

This is not optional.

VIII. Set Your Goals

Goals are just dreams with a deadline – Randy Gage

Set aside some time to think about and write down your goals.

Don’t just put your goals in your iPhone Notes app…

Actually put pen to paper and write down what you plan to achieve.

I would also recommend writing a short paragraph about your “why”.

Your “why” is going to change over time, but get it down on paper so that you can come back to this when the going gets tough.

And it WILL get tough.

If it was easy, everybody would be a millionaire network marketing professional, right?

As another old saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. 

Another way to keep yourself motivated is by putting together a dream board.

As cheesy as this sounds, it actually works.

You can use a piece of cardboard and place pictures of things on this board that you want to buy, achieve, and become.

Have a look at this article for a guideline to putting together your MLM business plan so that you’ll be fully prepared to tackle your new future.

IX. Schedule Business Building Time

Anything that you take seriously is scheduled in, right?

You will be told again and again to treat this like a real business.

But if you’re brand new to entrepreneurship, you don’t really know what that means.

So let’s look at it another way…

Treat your business like a JOB.

You wouldn’t simply not show up to your job without a good excuse, right?

Your business should be the same way.

Schedule at least 10-15 hours per week to work on your business. 

Make sure you’re not just just doing “busywork” during this time.

You should spend this time doing income producing activities.

During the scheduled time, you should not be re-watching the presentation video, reading books, or attending free training webinars online.

These are not income producing activities. 

By the way…

You should NEVER attend free training webinars online.

These “free” trainings will be advertised as education, but why are these people giving it away for free?

It’s because they will be selling you something at the end of their presentation.

These people are very good at what they do, so don’t fall victim to the sneaky marketing.

X. Purchase Business Building Tools

Your company will have business tools available to you that will help you present the products and opportunity in a professional way, without you needing to be an expert.

If someone asks you a question, you can simply refer to one of your tools to get the answer.

Your business candidate will see that you don’t even need to be an expert to build this business.

You just need to use the resources that are available to you.

This will help with duplication, which we will be discussing later.

You should also make sure you have the basic tools you’ll need for this business, such as a computer and cell phone. 

For a detailed list of what tools you’ll need to build your MLM, check out this article.

XI. Complete Your Candidate List

One of the first things you will be asked to do is to make a list of every single person you know.

As you’re writing down all these names, don’t think about it.

Don’t prejudge people as you’re writing down their names.

Just get the names down. 

You don’t really know who people are, who they will become, or how successful and motivated they could someday be in a network marketing business.

You’re not just inviting them for your own personal gain.

This is a good opportunity and you should want everyone to have a chance at this.

When I first got started in network marketing, I didn’t listen to my sponsor when she told me to do this.

Instead, I had 7 people in mind that I thought would be great for the business.

So instead of writing down a full candidate list, I just invited these 7 people that I thought would be rockstars at my MLM business. 

Guess how many of these people joined my business? 

That’s right.

Zero.

Nada.

Zilch.

I was devastated.

But if I had had a list of 100 to 200 people and simply worked through all the names, it wouldn’t have mattered as much because it was such a small percentage of my list.

It would have allowed me to approach my business with much better posture and less desperation.

You may also be interested in this article where we talk about 34 places to find network marketing prospects.

4. Commit To Doing A Major Blast

It seems logical to move forward with your business in a very methodical, carefully planned out way.

You may be tempted to spend a large amount of time getting “ready” to build your business.

You will feel the need to understand everything about each product, and all the nuances and intricacies of the business opportunity. 

I know it seems logical, but it’s wrong. 

If you commit to doing a major blast right at the beginning, it will build such a large amount of momentum, you won’t even want to quit the business even when things get hard.

The goal is to get to a point where it takes more effort to quit than it does to stay.

Go back and read that last sentence again.

It’s hard to explain or even comprehend how doing that initial major blast will impact your network marketing business in the long term.

If you get enough people started on your team early, the odds are that there will be one or two people that will go on to build their own teams of several thousand or more people.

That’s life changing stuff.

So what is this major blast?

This is a concept that Randy Gage really explains well in his latest book.

He says to get at least 80-100 invitations out immediately after you’ve finished writing out your candidate list.

Let’s be clear…

This doesn’t mean that you will be recruiting or even showing 80-100 presentations.

That would be unrealistic.

It simply means 80-100 invitations.

If you get enough people flowing through the funnel, you will get more coming out the other side excited about your offer and ready to get started.

It’ll be a small percentage…

But hey…

It’s all about working through the numbers, right?

Some things you should be doing to implement the initial Major Blast are:

• Hosting a social get together to create a customer base for your products 
• Put together one or two business presentations to launch in your area 
• Launch an email and text message campaign 
• Distribute some mass marketing marketing materials in appropriate places around your area 
• Edit or create various social media accounts to promote your business
• And finally, move all the people that have entered the “funnel” from your various efforts towards a bigger presentation (speak to your sponsor about this bigger presentation)

5. Manage Your Time

Most people don’t need bigger goals, they need better habits – Randy Gage

If you have an iPhone, I want you to pull it out now, go to Settings, Screen Time, and have a look at how much time you spend doing what on your phone.

I know, it might be hard to look at.

But trust me…

It’s better that you know.

The point I want to make is that you spend an unbelievable amount of time doing basically useless things every single day.

Hey, I’m not judging…

I do it, too!

But once I started paying attention to how much time I was actually wasting, I started to make conscious efforts to be more productive.

For example, the average American spent 6 hours and 25 minutes per day watching Netflix in 2020…

That’s 97 DAYS out of the entire year spent binging Netflix!

Now I understand that 2020 wasn’t a typical year with the COVID lockdowns and all the craziness that happened.

But come on…

97 days out of the year??

And in the UK, the average citizen spends 58 minutes per day commuting to and from work.

That’s about 260 hours in a year…

Or 11 straight days.

So let me ask you this:

What do you do during your commute?

Listen to the radio?

Being programmed by the fear mongering corporate media giants?

How could you make your commute more productive?

Personally, I never listen to the radio.

I spend my commuting time listening to content that helps me grow into a more positive, loving, productive, knowledgeable person.

So I’m constantly listening to either podcasts or audiobooks while I’m driving.

You could adopt this strategy, too.

Time management is one of the most important skills you could have not just in network marketing, but in any business.

Rather than spending your time binging Family Guy on Netflix, maybe you could be working on your business skills, reading a self development book, or going through a coaching or training program.

Personal development is crucial to your success…

But you need to be careful.

Remember how we talked about scheduling the 10-15 hours per week to spend working on your business?

These 10-15 hours must be spent on income producing activities.

Personal development may be an income producing activity indirectly…

But it doesn’t directly contribute to growth in your business.

We talked earlier about how you should be treating your business like a job, at least in the beginning.

Well imagine how your boss would react if you were spending your 8 hours per day at work reading books or listening to personal development audiobooks. 

It wouldn’t go over well.

You might be forced to go full time into your network marketing business sooner than you planned!

So what constitutes income producing activities?

Well the most obvious one is that you should be actively prospecting and inviting people to check out your product or opportunity presentation. 

You shouldn’t necessarily set a goal of how many presentations you want to show in a given period of time or how many leads you get on any given day (even though finding leads is an important skill to learn).

There are too many things out of your control in that particular type of goal because the reality is, most people will say NO.

And that’s fine.

You just have to work through the numbers.

So what if we flip that goal?

What if you decided that you had to get at least 20 NOs every single week?

Now that’s a powerful goal because you know more people will say “no” than “yes” so you could reach that goal every single week.

Some weeks might take you longer to get your NOs because some people will agree to watching a presentation.

Great!

But you still need to get your NOs since you set that goal.

It’s a win-win…

In a weird kind of way.

Plus you will get desensitized to being told “no” which is important in any network marketing business.

I got this idea from a book called Go For No! by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz.

The next income producing activity would be to follow up with your leads and prospects,

Including the people who have watched your presentation already.

It could also include answering questions from existing customers and/or team members.

For a detailed explanation of MLM recruiting, be sure to read through this full guide.

You should also consider reading this article where you will learn how to have an unlimited stream of prospects for your business by learning how to grow your personal network.

Another income producing activity is teaching and training your recruits on how to succeed with network marketing.

The most profound thing you will ever realize in network marketing is that you don’t necessarily grow your group…

You grow your people, and those people will grow their people, and collectively all the people will grow your group.

That’s a profound truth of network marketing.

So how do you properly manage your time and take care of all these activities?

First of all, you need tools and planners to make it more manageable. But more importantly, you need a daily routine. This routine should include:

I. Income producing activities (10-15 hours/week)

Get a certain number of NOs per week, follow up with leads and prospects, answer customer and team member questions, teach and train your team members.

II. Personal development

Learn new skills and work on your mindset by reading books and listening to podcasts, treat everyone around you with love and respect (I know that’s not really a “routine” item but important nonetheless) eat a proper diet, get exercise, go to Church on regular basis if that’s your thing, and be sure to get enough sleep!

6. Focus On Duplication

Everyone is looking for that elusive secret for how to succeed in network marketing…

In reality, it’s not a secret at all.

But it can be a bit tough to wrap your mind around because it’s actually very counter intuitive.

One of the most important “income producing activities” you do on a daily basis is recruiting…

Talking to people about your business.

So naturally you might think that you would need to learn how to become a master recruiter and learn all the advanced sales and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) closing tactics.

You might be tempted to focus on finding real estate agents or sales people for your business because you think to yourself, “They would be great for my business.”

But that’s actually wrong.

If you’re recruiting people into your group using advanced closing techniques and complicated internet sales funnels, how do you expect to grow a team of fifty to a hundred thousand people with the skills to duplicate you?

We all know that the real power and leverage to network marketing is that you can grow a group that will eventually keep growing your group (and income) larger and larger regardless of whether you put in any more work.

But we don’t act that way.

If you convince somebody to join your business using one of these advanced closing strategies, your new team member will probably be asking herself the next day…

“How did he convince me to sign up for this? I wasn’t even looking for a business opportunity! I could never convince somebody to sign up for this thing.”

Your new team member will quickly experience buyers remorse and drop out.

This is way more common than you might think.

But if you brought a team member into your organization using a simple system that duplicates, she will likely have a completely different experience.

She might think to herself the next day…

”Wow, I really wasn’t looking for a business opportunity, but how lucky am I that this came across my path! It seems really easy to build this business, I could easily do what my sponsor does!”

There is a much higher chance that your new team member will stick around.

And if she uses the same simple, duplicable system that you used to bring her into the team, her people will likely feel the same way when they join the business.

This is what leads to massive duplication and a team so big it would make your head spin.

I. This Is A Teaching Business

It truly doesn’t matter what works to recruit or sell products.

There are a lot of strategies and complex systems that work to recruit or make sales.

What really matters in this business is what duplicates.

Would you rather have a sleazy car salesman in your group who’s stubborn and unwilling to change his ways…

Or would you want the Kindergarten teacher from North Dakota who’s teachable and willing to learn a simple system that works?

I’ve got nothing against car salesmen, by the way.

In fact I used to sell cars…

That’s why I can tell you that you want the Kindergarten teacher on your team, not the sleazy car salesman.

At the end of the day, this is a teaching business much more than it is sales or recruiting.

If you keep that in mind and teach your team members the same principle, you will experience much more long term success than the closing master that recruits 20 people a week but can’t get anyone to stay in the business.

II. Always Use The Tools

If your lips are moving, you should be directing someone towards a tool – Randy Gage

If you’re talking to a potential prospect about the business and she asks you a question, you should always defer to one of your third party tools. 

What do I mean by that?

Your network marketing company will have tools available to you that you can use to help explain the opportunity or products to your prospects.

This could come in the form of a product catalogue, brochure, CD, thumb drive, or website.

So when you get a question…

You don’t need to know the answer.

You just need to know where to find the answer.

After you’ve been in the business for a while, you’ll start to know the answers to all the questions that you get.

I would still argue that you should continue to use your third party tools.

Don’t act like an expert (even if you are one) because that’s not very duplicable.

Your prospect will think…

“I could never do the business because I don’t have the extensive knowledge that I would need to be successful.”

But if you always defer to a third party tool, your prospect will realize that there’s no need to be an expert and that she could totally do this business, too.

III. Stick To The System

You will likely get to a point in your business where you start to think…

“There must be a better way!”

You’ll be tempted to go online and find ways to recruit and sell products on the internet rather than following the proven system laid out before you by your sponsor.

Now I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with using the internet to build your business.

I’m actually a fan of it…

Eventually.

Just don’t start there.

Initially, it’s very important to follow the system that has been duplicated by others in your company so that you can create duplication in your own team.

If you bring someone into your group and they see you floundering around trying to add people by spamming your social media, your people are going to notice this.

And they’ll try it too, rather than following a proven plan.

Just stick to the system and teach your recruits to do the same, until you’ve built a sizable organization.

At that point you could consider branching off into your own team, altering the system or adding to it.

But don’t think you know better when you’re first getting started.

You may be interested in checking out our article on leadership in network marketing.

7. Lead With Products Or Opportunity?

There are several different schools of thought on whether you should focus more on selling products or recruiting business builders.

But does it really make that much of a difference?

A few years ago there was a study done on the retention rate of people who got involved in network marketing businesses. 

The study found that of the people who simply bought products from a network marketing company, about 70% of the people who kept using the products also transitioned to building the business.

The study also found that of the people who signed up for building the business, about 70% of the people who stayed with the company in some capacity quit building the business but kept using the products for years to come.

So at the end of the day, it doesn’t make that much of a difference in terms of numbers.

For example, I joined my first network marketing over 10 years ago.

It was a well known health and wellness company. I didn’t stick with the business because I just didn’t have a passion for health and wellness.

But I still use the products to this day, meaning my sponsor is still getting commission checks from recruiting me over 10 years ago.

So in my opinion…

You should still focus more on selling products…

For the most part.

Let me make my case.

When you think about sharing your new business with your closest friends, what makes you more nervous, presenting your products, or pitching them a business opportunity?

I don’t know about you, but I would find it much easier to simply ask them if they would be interested in buying products from my store.

There’s just a lot less pressure.

You may not have enough credibility in the eyes of your loved ones to be pitching a network marekting opportunity, especially if you haven’t even made any product sales.

At least I know I didn’t.

You will find it much easier to build a loyal base of customers first.

That could produce a reliable source of monthly income for you, increasing your confidence in the business opportunity.

As you become more confident in your business, you’ll find it much easier to begin inviting people to watch an opportunity presentation.

As time goes on, your credibility with your friends and family will start to grow as they see you having success, which will drive intrigue and curiosity about what it is you do.

But you can be flexible…

This isn’t a hard and fast rule.

If you know of a few people who are actively looking for a side hustle, then by all means, extend an invitation to them.

8. Build Offline FIRST

Shortly after you start building your new business, you may come to a point where you feel like finding “tips and tricks” online.

Heck, that could be what brought you to this blog post.

You will likely start searching for answers online after being turned down by a few people. 

What you should understand first and foremost is that you WILL get more NOs than YESes.

Substantially more.

And that’s normal, so be ready, and learn to be OK with that.

This is really just a numbers game.

The point is, you need to be very careful when trying to find help on the internet for a network marketing business.

Many of the articles and YouTube videos you’ll find are specifically designed to flip you out of your own network marketing company into the content creator’s own opportunity.

Be very skeptical when doing any type of network marketing research online.

I would argue that you probably shouldn’t try to find any MLM guides online (although we did write one that you could check out here) and don’t even try building your business online until you’ve built a substantial team using nothing but the system provided to you by your sponsor.

But eventually, you might want to turn to the internet to expand your business…

And that’s OK.

Here’s a quick outline of how internet marketing works and how you could apply it to your own network marketing opportunity.

It really comes down to 3 steps, although this is a gross oversimplification.

I. Create Content

This content can be in form of articles, blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitter threads, Facebook posts etc.

The main objective is to provide a ton of value to your readers.

When your reader asks herself a question about network marketing, you want to be the first person who comes to her mind because of all the valuable content you’ve provided her online.

You’ve become a thought leader.

Oh and by the way, NEVER mention your company name online!

II. Build An Email List

You could offer some type of freebie to your content readers, like a free ebook, free weekly newsletter, free course etc.

If you’ve successfully built trust and become an authority figure in your readers’ mind, they will want your free gift.

The only way they can access it is to sign up to your email list.

III. Email Your List Regularly

After your reader joins your email list, you should continue providing value.

If the first thing you do after they join your list is to spam them with a business opportunity or product, they will immediately unsubscribe and you’ll never hear from them again.

But you have to make money, right?

So it’s OK to send out offers here and there, but do it sparingly.

I would say about 80% value and 20% offers is a healthy ratio.

I must repeat this though…

Don’t bother trying to learn how to build your business online unless you’ve already built a substantial team offline and are experiencing a healthy amount of duplication in your team.

There’s no need to overwhelm yourself more than you already are.

Don’t spread yourself out too thin.

Learn one skill first, get really good at it, and then add on another skill.

The first, most profitable skill in network marketing is recruiting and teaching…

Creating duplication.

9. Learn, Do, Teach

These are the 3 ultimate keys to success in network marketing:

Learn, do, teach.

I learned from Tony Robbins years ago that success leaves clues.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

Just find the people who have achieved what you want to achieve, find out how they did it, and take the same actions they did.

Logically, you will achieve similar results.

Learning should be a lifelong endeavor.

As the old saying goes, leaders are readers.

There’s a lot of truth to that.

Not only can you achieve a lot of knowledge and skills from reading books, but you can also get inspired and excited.

A few network marketing authors I would recommend are Randy Gage, Ray Higdon, Eric Worre, and Todd Falcone.

You may also want to have a look at our article where we outline several network marketing training resources that you could take advantage of…

Don’t get stuck JUST learning though.

You can acquire all the knowledge in the world but if you don’t take action, you will never experience success.

Be willing to take imperfect action and experience a minor failure here and there.

Understand that some amount of failure is unavoidable.

The difference between you and someone who is massively successful in network marketing is that the successful person has failed many more times than you.

As you’re learning and taking action, you should also be educating those around you.

Over time you will become more and more tactful.

Educate potential customers about your products and/or opportunity.

And teach your recruits the simple system that you used to add members to your team.

Always remember, duplication is the name of the game.