Interview with a 19-year-old entrepreneur on ABC...
"The most important thing you can do if you're thinking about starting a business is harbor a bias towards action. The thing that separates entrepreneurs from everyone else is that they actually act. A lot of people can talk about interesting ideas, but very few people go out and implement them and make mistakes and fail and iterate on their ideas."
Thanks for the link, Walter.
"Entrepreneurs...actually act."
I wonder...how do we get over the fear of acting? Lulu says she doesn't like approaching others for the business and product. So she doesn't do it.
Why did she get into this business? "Oh," she said, "I love the product."
Is she really "in the business"?
She told me she doesn't know what to say. After 3 years.
But there are racks of books, CDs and online blogs and websites with people who specialize in what to say to prospects. She hasn't had time, she said. Ahh.
How about just start talking and see what happens? Because she doesn't know what to say, she said.
Is Lulu really an entrepreneur? Is she really "in the business"?
Do you ever wonder why do so many people get into network marketing - and do no marketing?
Do we need a network marketing 101 class to show people what it means to take action in a marketing business, and how to get yourself to act?
Would Lulu take it?
10 comments :
Is Lulu really an entrepreneur? Is she really "in the business"?
In my opinion, Lulu is NOT an entrepreneur because according to the definitions of:
Dictionary.com, Lulu would be "a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk"; or
American Heritage Dictionary says Lulu would be: "A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture"; or
Wallstreet Words says Lulu would be: "A risk-taker who has the skills and initiative to establish a business."
Lulu hasn't taken any initiative or risks! And while she may consider herself "in the business", she's not DOING the business . . . taking the risk of talking to people or the initiative to even TRY.
Do you ever wonder why do so many people get into network marketing - and do no marketing?
Actually, I don't wonder because I have come to understand that the reason people don't do marketing is because no one really tells them what's involved in the process of marketing. It's more than talking to people that you know.
Do we need a network marketing 101 class to show people what it means to take action in a marketing business, and how to get yourself to act?
YES, emphatically YES, Kim! When's it going to be? LOL
Would Lulu take it? Probably not . . . :( But I would, and would invite others to participate.
I believe that Network Marketing is more than the act of talking to people about your product or business -- it's about LEARNING all that you can to effectively DO "the business."
A Johnson Enterprise
Would Lulu take this class is a good question. She might, if her fundamental perception of herself, her fundamental relationship with herself altered, then she might see herself as the entrepreneur she could be as opposed to the fearful little girl she may be currently relating to herself as. Lulu's issue seems to be one of self perception and that is the constant challenge and opportunity for growth for all of us as entrepreneurs. Ever heard the saying your business will grow as fast as you do, well, Lulu may need some growth pills from a good coach or even a come to Jesus life experience such as a major health challenge or an important person's passing to wake up and realize that she can be an entrepreneur too. I myself am just learning how to do real marketing and am investigating good places to host my own website and autoresponders and am doing my due dilligence and would love other reader's input on my own quest to act. Thank you for reading! Noah The Networker... Has Sallie Mae taken too much of your pay? A real plan b for 20 somethings with a high tech edge: www.vmdirect.com/noahgabriel
Kim,
I would be interested in hearing you expand on this topic. "Lulu" has a lot of brethren in nwm. A question that I have struggled with from a philosophical view is this: Do you refuse to judge people and go ahead and recruit them, knowing they have potential that they likely will never fulfill? Or do you show discernment and not even bring them in to begin with? I tend towards the latter as I do not enjoy watching people struggle, but sometimes I wonder if the companies require the former, in order to have enough volume to thrive. Your thoughts?
glennjaffas@prepaidlegal.com
I think I would give her the credit of being an entrepreneur if she was taking the time for the education part of it. Clearly, if it was so easy to get out there and just market we would all be doing it.
I am certainly not as active as I know I "should" be, but I am taking the time to listen to trainings from you, Kim, Michael Clouse and Brian Tracey, to name a few.
I love my business and know that I am growing to where I need to be. Perhaps that is what differentiates and entrepreneur from someone who just loves the product -- We see the potential, have no intention of giving up, and invest in our own personal growth because that is what is needed to succeed.
Yes, Kim, please have a class!
Laura Kane
www.lbk.scent-team.com
In my experience Lulu will read all the material, take all the classes,listen to all the audio, everything but will not act. Maybe it is fear or maybe since we have told her if you listen to this or do that your business will grow. So she does this and does that but her business doesn't grow. Even with all the training out there she hasn't put it into practice. Start with baby steps Lulu, do something small each day consistantly.
Nancy Carlson
perfectmombusiness.com
I had the awesome opportunity to meet that young man who is on the video. As the president of the Boston College Entrepreneur Society I invited Ben Casnocha to speak to our club! He is an awesome guy. We are planning to have him back this coming year!
Regarding the blog post...I think most people get into network marketing and don't market because they are taught....HI REJECTION methods by the upline...They get caught in the circle of fear and pain and get so many knots on their head they don't want to do it anymore...
The goal is to teach your prospects REJECTION-FREE ways of prospecting. When you have 92% of the people who don't like to sell or be sold, you must adjust to that and find ways around it.
Have a great day!
http://scottgbradley.blogspot.com
I wouldn't be so quick to throw people out. Some folks truly ARE going through personal hells that put their NWM biz on hold for awhile. It doesn't mean they're totally wrong for the business. It just means they'll need more time. You DON'T have to waste much of your own valuable time, though, if you're their sponsor. Just drip on 'em from time to time, and see if a planted seed sprouts. SOMEthing made them sign up to be an associate. Maybe they were naive and expected the money to pour in once they opened shop.
If you sponsored Lulu and you had that touching-base conversation with her to see why she hasn't done better, then that might be enough to prod her toward more activity. Maybe just hearing herself whine to you with her favorite excuses played off against your sobering reality checks about the need for marketing will wake her up. Maybe not. You never know. Being an entrepreneur is an ongoing, sometimes exhausting growth process. I say give each person her own room to grow and simply regularly plant seeds into her life, a la the Biblical parable of the sower and the seed. People may well surprise you.
Case in point(Glen Jaffas, you will laugh at this): my sponsor in Pre-Paid Legal told me NEVER to write what he called "911" cases. He meant don't write memberships on people who are already in big legal trouble. He knew when he told me that I was going to ignore his advice, because that's where my business maturity level as at the time. He still gave me the advice. Sure, there are exceptions, but I mean I was SPECIALIZING in 911s. I let my emotions cloud my judgment. After all, these people needed lawyers desperately. One foot out of jail, that was my man. I hung out at The Waffle House on weekends and racked up on memberships. Half of them drunk, many going into court the very next week for assorted misdemeanors/felonies. They needed legal advice, I reasoned! One prospect got thrown out of the Waffle House for disorderly conduct before I could write him up...then mooned us and threw a beer bottle at the window. It was a MOST exciting way to do business. I know it sounds crazy now, and I'm embarrassed writing this--BUT it seemed like the thing to do at the time. OF COURSE, it wasn't long before the chargebacks came pouring in, because these people either wound up in jail or they refused to take responsibility for their lives and blamed the lawyers! One woman got her kid back, the molester still living in the house, and somehow thought she didn't need a lawyer on call!
It's taken me well over a year to pull out of my mess. That means working hard without getting a paycheck. Did I get discouraged? Of course! Did I learn something? Yep. Don't write 911s. My persistency is still screwed, but I'M HERE! It just didn't look like it for awhile there. I'd venture to guess that nearly every one of us has at least one major brain fart story...and yet we pulled out and moved on. So I say keep talking to Lulu every now and then, to see if she gets into the game more. If not, then you've given it your best shot as a sponsor.
To Barbara G...
You are right, I laughed! Thanks for that! While some understand the futility of "911 memberships" they still endorse recruiting "Lulu", ie people w/o basic life skills that statistically we already know will fail (but after producing a couple of months of income). This is not unique to any one company but rather an industry wide challenge. The question that still remains in my mind is do companies do this out of ignorance or is it actually a goal? Any company that does recruiting contests would seem to be guilty of encouraging incompetency in the associate base. Am I missing something here?
glennjaffas@prepaidlegal.com
The defining comment by Lulu, when she was reminded of all the training and help that is available to her, was..."She hasn't had time, she said." I believe she has had time or could have made time, if she had a strong enough reason to learn how to do it. That's the real reason why her business is not building...she doesn't want it badly enough. And that's fine, because people like Lulu, who really love their products and order them regularly are the backbone of this industry. Sometimes companies can be unfairly criticised for having customers like this just because she is listed as an associate by name rather than by action.
It seems like Lulu is content to be a customer and is not motivated to be an associate, so she is not really an entrepreneur. She lacks initiative.
Knowing what to say should come from her enthusiasm for the products she loves!
She may be better served not recruiting associates, but there's opportunity for her to grow her own customer base if she wants to share her story with others.
That should come naturally though and perhaps she is uncomfortable doing so, but people relate to personal stories better than a sales pitch anyway.
I hope that's part of her training even though it seems obvious.
Time is her stated constraint. If she is not willing to take the necessary action to develop her skills after three years of using the products, she will most likely continue to simply be a customer because she values her time more highly for other pursuits.
Is it a fear of acting? I don't know, but I do know customers are very important to any business.
Post a Comment