In the financial world, people are used to investing in “things” such as the stock market, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, and startup businesses. In my online MLM business, I invest in people because people are the driving force in any MLM business. You can’t create a working downline that actively produces passive income without people. So in MLM we invest in people.
Why I Invest in People in My Online MLM Business
The biggest investment I make in people is the time and energy I spend training and educating them about how to market their MLM businesses, especially online. Since the MLM industry is still figuring out how to get into the online marketing game, I put a lot of energy into teaching, guiding, and educating people about this subject.
But in addition to the investments of time and energy, I find that it’s often useful to also invest dollars to bring people forward in the business. This is especially true now, when the economy is uncertain and people are short on cash. I might invest cash in helping someone set up their own MLM website, or I may provide some extra cash to help a downline member travel to an educational seminar. Sometimes I pay into computer courses that help a newbie become more computer savvy. Most of the time, these cash investments pay off … and sometimes they don’t. So how do I decide whether to disgorge the cash or not? By asking three questions
Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before Investing Money in People
It’s one thing to invest time and energy in people because your risk is limited. If the person ends up being a flop in the business, all you have wasted is a little sweat equity. Investing money in a person, on the other hand, is different. Your risk is greater and you are limited by the size of your bank account (and your comfort level) as to how much you can invest. In other words, you have to choose carefully how you invest money in people.
One way to decide whether helping a downline member with a cash investment is good idea is to ask yourself three questions:
1. Has this person shown consistent effort in building their business?
2. Is this person coachable?
3. Is the investment in area that interests me?
Let’s break these three questions down and see what they really tell us about investing money in another person.
1. Consistent Effort
I feel very good about rewarding a person’s consistent effort in business building with a cash investment. This is true whether the person has been successful or not in building a business. I keep in mind the fact that it can take five years or more to build a strong MLM business, especially via online marketing, so I’m patient with people who work hard at building their businesses, even if they have relatively little to show for their efforts as yet. Effort eventually yields results, so people who work their businesses regularly are good investments. In addition, I also invest in people who may not work their business as persistently, but who order a lot of product. These people are not as serious about working the business, but may eventually do so. In addition, their high volume contributes strongly to my income, so I’m happy to give back.
2. Coachable People
Coachability is another characteristic that I love to see in a business builder, and coachable people make good investments. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in online MLM marketing, and I try to pass on my “lessons learned” so my people make fewer mistakes. Coachable people learn faster and usually build their businesses faster so I like to invest in them. Plus, since I usually invest cash in educational workshops, sending coachable people to these events makes more sense than sending people who don’t want to learn.
3. Interesting Topics
Sometimes I’ll invest cash in sending people to educational seminars even if these people have not demonstrated consistent effort in business building or are not very coachable. I’ll invest in these people if the educational workshop is on a topic that interests me, but I don’t have time to attend. I make a deal with my people that if I contribute to their seminar tuition, I get access to the materials from the course. That way even if the person I send to the seminar never takes action, I get the chance to learn more in an area that interests me. It’s another way that I can work as a team with people in my group.
Upline Modeling of Investing in People
Most of the principles I have learned about investing money in my people come from my upline, who have modeled this behavior for me very well. I’m consistently surprised at how often and how much my upline invests in me and my group. Whether they contribute cash toward sending one of my people to a corporate event or they help me purchase something that expands my web presence, my upline has definitely taught me the value of investing not just time and energy, but real money as well into my people.
I’m always looking for fascinating and innovative people to invest in. It that rings any bells for you, drop me a line and let’s talk!
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