Alas, the doubt factor always seems to crop up in any MLM business builder’s mind, whether the business is being built online or offline.
If you are building your business offline and using warm-market prospecting, you wonder if you are going to offend your friends and family with your MLM offer. If you are building your business online, which has a longer lead-time before you see results, you begin to worry that all of your endless efforts are never going to produce results.
Doubt … it happens to all but the most freaky MLM business builders. And to be successful, it’s a hurdle that MUST be overcome. In this article, I’ll tackle doubts about MLM in general.
Having Doubts about Your MLM Business?
Building an MLM business takes just as much effort as building any other small business. The only difference between an MLM business and a regular small business is that it takes much less capital to get started in MLM. But other than that, the effort and sweat equity are about the same … which means it can be hard going in the beginning.
At some point, just about every serious MLMer wakes up sweating in the middle of the night wondering, “Am I doing the right thing by pouring all this time and energy into this business?”
Others question the value of the products. For instance, one of my business builders had great experiences with the products, but being an analytical thinker, he keeps asking, “What if the results are just in my head? What if the products don’t work for everyone else like they worked for me?”
Yet another variation of the doubt factor centers around the fact that many people can’t keep up the level of effort it takes to build critical mass. For instance, another of my business builders has achieved a significant level of success in her business within 9 months, generating a regular $800 monthly check. That’s not a bad check, especially as, these days, it comes month after month with relatively little effort on her part. But she’s a driven individual, and she doubts whether she can find others who will work as hard as she had to work, at least in the beginning, to achieve this level of income.
Overcoming Your Doubts About MLM
So let’s take these doubts one by one and see if we can tackle them into submission. Overcoming doubt about your MLM business isn’t so much about squelching your fear as it is about considering your life and lifestyle from a whole new point of view.
MLM Doubt #1: Upsetting Friends and Family
If you are going prospect your warm market, then chances are that you will be talking to friends and family about your MLM business and products. With each person, one of four things can happen. They will:
- truly want to buy the products or join your group (yay!)
- buy products because they want to support you in your efforts
- refuse to participate but nothing will change in your relationship
- think you are a crazy nut and refuse to have anything more to do with you
Knowing this, you have to consider the value of your relationship to each person before you approach them. If you value a friendship so much that you would never do anything to jeopardize that relationship, then you probably won’t approach that “friend” if you feel that it might end the friendship or change the relationship in a negative way. You can just approach the people you feel will be supportive of your efforts, even if they never buy from you or join your group.
With regard to the friends you are afraid to approach for fear of ruining the relationship, you have to ask yourself this question: “What kind of friendship can’t stand an invitation to look at an MLM opportunity?” Is that the kind of friend you want? Are they fair-weather friends only? If so, maybe you don’t need friends like that. Or maybe you do … it’s up to you, but as you know building an MLM business is an AFGO (another freakiin’ growth opportunity). So just know that in the process of building your business, you may shed a few friends here and there. Just a thought.
So in approaching friends and family, pick and choose the people you approach with care, and decide ahead of time whether you are OK with letting a friendship or two go. Once you have decided, get on with the job. Approach the people you feel comfortable with, and leave the rest alone. If this shortens your warm market list considerably, then think about going with some cold market approaches like advertising, posting flyers, and attending trade shows.
MLM Doubt #2: Is Building an MLM Business Really Worth It?
If this question crops up frequently for you because you find the effort difficult, then you need to ask yourself some other questions. For instance, if you have a day job, you might ask yourself:
- Do I feel secure enough in my job that I don’t need another source of “fall back” income?
- If my job is secure, can I continue doing what I’m doing for the next x number of years?
- If I feel comfortable doing my job until retirement, do I feel my retirement is secure enough to last me through my old age?
If you answered “no” any of these questions, does that change the way you view your MLM business? Does that strengthen the resolve you have in building your business, despite the difficult effort? Have the reality of the economy hit you yet, and have you really thought about what it will be like to go to work, day in and day out, for the next decade or two?
If you “reframe” your situation in this context, it may help you overcome your doubts about all the effort and money you are pouring into your current MLM business. If these questions don’t help you overcome your doubts, then maybe MLM isn’t right for you. If that’s the case, get out now and get some sleep!
MLM Doubt #3: What If My Product Experience Was a Fluke?
So you have a great experience with the products your MLM company offers, which convinced you to hop on the MLM business bandwagon. You start prospecting your warm market with the products, and a few friends do buy the products. One or two have pretty good results while the rest are pretty indifferent. You wake up in the middle of the night and think, “What if I’m just a weirdo and my experience with the products was a fluke?”
I can tell you for sure that you are a weirdo, but that’s OK because we all are. Some of us just cover it up better than others. Here’s the thing about product experiences: it’s a spectrum. Some people will get great results, some will notice something but not be overly impressed, and others will get nothing at all. That’s the deal with any product, whether it’s sold by an MLM company or not.
So don’t waste time on the people who got little or nothing from your products. Instead, look at the people, yourself included, who did benefit from the products and figure out the common thread in the group. Were these people just more open-minded to begin with? Are they innovators? Are they desperate for a solution and thus ready to see the benefits? Find the thread and you will find your niche. When you find your niche is when you truly begin marketing your product to people who actually want them, not just to people you happen to know. Know what I mean?
MLM Doubt #4: What If I’m the Only Workaholic Out There?
So you busted your hump and created a steady passive income in a year’s time. You worked hard and you doubt other people are willing to work as hard as you. Hmmm … that’s giving yourself a lot of credit and not giving other people much credit. No doubt you are a hard worker, and kudos to you for being one. But do you really think this country was built on the work ethic of a bunch of lazy slugs? Nope, not really.
There ARE other people out there who are willing to work hard now so that they can work less in the future. While we do live in a culture of instant gratification, there are people who have learned to delay gratification. You just have to find them … and they may not be in your circle of immediate friends and acquaintances, which may mean you need to reach deeper into the community, either online (via LinkedIn or Plaxo, for instance) or offline (via business organizations in your local area).
When I used to express this doubt to my mentor, she would tell me, “Oh honey, you are NOT that powerful. You are not the only one in the world who can do this. Give me a break!”
So give yourself a break and get over the fact that you are an all-powerful workaholic freak. If you can put in the time to get to a significant check, so can others. Trust me. MLM would not be a booming worldwide business if you were the only one with a strong work ethic on the planet.
Think Through Your Doubts about MLM
Stifling doubt isn’t useful when it comes to working your MLM business. Instead, try to think through your doubts until you get a new perspective. Asking yourself certain questions and thoroughly exploring your options is a way to put your business in a new context. Don’t go on blind faith and just squelch your doubts. Think it through.
Does this process get rid of all doubt? Probably not, but at least doubt won’t stand in the way of expanding your business. It is as human to doubt as it is to err. So feel the doubt if you want to, but keep asking yourself questions until your doubt shrinks into its proper perspective.
Hope that helps those of you doubting Thomases out there who can’t sleep at night!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Or contact me if you want to join our MLM team. We are teaching people to dive into online MLM head first … successfully! I’m holding out for a few good people. Really.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/betsssssy/ / CC BY 2.0
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Great discussion on the topic of mlm and its rewards and challenges. I have been involved for 17 years, would never quit, love my products, but am always trying to learn more and do better.