CHAPTER 01
Potato chips will not build your business
If you expect an article about building a six-figure monthly income from your computer while eating potato chips, this is not it.
Before we discuss the information age, remember:
Knowledge does not produce great results. Action does.
We need knowledge, but often less than we think. Common sense, people skills and a winner's mindset matter enormously. Then we need to go and do what needs doing.
CHAPTER 02
Know where to find it
Many of us were educated for the industrial age. We learned to understand processes and hold knowledge in our heads. A degree was seen as a ticket to a solid, well-paid job.
That is why something my university professor said in the nineties surprised me:
It is not important how much you know. It is important that you know where to find the right information when you need it.
I had not expected that from a scientist. I liked it. Looking back, he was a decade or two ahead of his time.
Information once difficult to obtain is now readily available. The internet, videos, podcasts, newsletters and social networks put it at our fingertips. Unless we manage it, we can be swamped around the clock.
We need to learn to filter. What matters? What helps us move forward? What merely distracts us?
It resembles food. When more is available than we need, gathering more is no longer the goal. We must choose well. Otherwise abundance itself becomes the problem.
CHAPTER 03
A crumb-covered kitchen table is not an empire
Some online systems market that information overload as their greatest advantage. Endless automated messages and material, but few real relationships. Where is the human touch? The eye contact? The handshake?
Thinking you can build an empire from a crumb-covered kitchen-table command post and motivate people with trips to virtual islands confuses network marketing with online gaming.
A beautiful website cannot hold a community together on its own. Without human connections, excitement fades.
So we need balance. Use technology to connect people and help them find the right information. Do not bury them in it.
CHAPTER 04
What we should keep from the nineties
We used to travel across the country running business training. We built seminar infrastructures, telephone cascades and fax alerts. After a fax had been forwarded three times, it was almost unreadable. Phone bills could exceed our commission cheques. Calling the US upline felt close to a financial disaster.
But it worked. We made money and had fun. Why?
Because we belonged to a real community of like-minded people. We loved meeting at classes, seminars and major events. There was that electric atmosphere when new partners began to understand what they had joined. We felt like pioneers.
Much has changed. But some of those habits are worth keeping.
CHAPTER 05
Give each tool the right job
Live events communicate the big picture. They build vision, excitement and momentum. They help people see the potential. That is also the subject of my article “Building for Events”.
Local training remains valuable, but a basic seminar is no longer the only way to understand products or a compensation plan. Videos and good reference materials can do that well. Personal meetings can then give more time to the people skills that help someone grow.
Webinars can share news quickly and complement live meetings. When I wrote the original article in 2011, I was not convinced they could replace the personal experience. As a speaker, I want to feel the room, respond and interact.
Keep your one-to-one and small-group conversations in lobbies and coffee shops. Even in the information age, you need to become a good presenter of your opportunity yourself.
And online recruiting systems? Look beyond the initial hype. A polished page will not make you a leader. The successful people I know build real relationships and meet their partners.
I also value phone calls, conference calls and three-way conversations. Back then, Skype helped with that too. The important part is exchange in both directions, especially over long distances.
CHAPTER 06
You have to opt in
“My upline does not give me enough information.” I heard that thousands of times in the nineties.
The direction has changed. In the early days, the upline had to make sure information travelled through the downline. Now partners can follow sources directly.
Once you have been shown where to find the right information, it is your responsibility to use it. Opt in. Stay informed. And filter carefully.
Here is how I recommend approaching it:
- Study your company's website and follow its relevant information sources.
- Connect with the right people and pages. My Facebook Marketing article explains what I look for.
- Check the back office daily, for news and announcements as well as business volume.
- Speak regularly with your sponsor or upline, for example every other day. Sometimes thirty seconds is enough; sometimes five minutes or more are needed.
- Make use of the company's and leadership's live seminars and events. Take them seriously and plan for them.
- Be prepared to visit people as a leader. It is called a home-based business, not a home-stay business.
- Create a clear communication channel with your downline. You do not need your own blog immediately. Use good existing content and build your business first. Keep the personal conversations too.
- Choose your sources wisely. Subscribe everywhere and you may become too overloaded to notice what matters.
Being well informed is your responsibility. You know where the information is. Now participate, online and offline.
You attend the party. The party does not come to you. Only the invitation does.
All the best, Sven