CHAPTER 01
Build people who can lead
Network marketing gives ordinary people the opportunity to achieve something extraordinary. But a business that depends on you doing everything will never give you real independence.
Without strong, independent leaders, you become a plate spinner in a circus. One plate slows down, another starts to wobble, and you keep running between them. You are busy keeping everything alive.
We take a different approach: We put the person at the centre. We help people become strong enough to lead their own businesses. That changes how we build, how we grow and how independent we can eventually become.
The Chief–Indian Principle illustrates three important differences.
CHAPTER 02
1. Chief-to-Chief versus Chief-to-Indian
In the nineties and early 2000s, network marketing was often treated as a numbers game. Bring people to a meeting. Let the great Manitou inspire them. Show them that one day they, too, could become a chief.
There was nothing unusual about that promise. The problem was what happened next. Were those new partners actually shown how to become chiefs? Or were they mostly taught to bring more Indians to the existing chiefs?
Many learned how to sell products and carry out daily tasks. They became well-trained Indians. But personal development and the people skills needed for leadership received far less attention.
Some compensation plans even created a conflict. When a downline partner reached a higher rank, the upline could lose part of their commission, as with certain infinity bonuses. More volume was welcome. Another independent chief might be less welcome. Quantity over quality.
That conflict shapes behaviour. And in the end, the great Manitou remains dependent too. Without strong leaders, the business still needs him everywhere.
Our aim is to help partners become chiefs themselves. Coaching them means more than teaching another “how to do”. It also means asking “who to be”. Who do you need to become so that people want to follow you?
Hard work matters. But your personality and your ability to attract people matter too. The charismatic leader on stage probably did not begin that way. They grew into that person.
Where there is no personal growth, there is no business growth.
A truly great leader can eventually step out of the spotlight and enjoy seeing their leaders shine. That is where real independence begins.
CHAPTER 03
2. Focus on the person versus the location
Put people first, and daily business changes.
Instead of asking where the next opportunity meeting is and who will speak, you develop partners who can present the business themselves.
Business takes place right where you are!
A strong, independent partner can open their presentation tools and do business wherever they happen to be. They do not need a permanent meeting location or an upline to speak for them. If they take action, something can happen. If they do nothing, nothing happens.
A weekly opportunity-meeting infrastructure can keep partners passive. They bring guests and watch the speaker become more confident. Meanwhile, they never develop that confidence themselves.
Between meetings, little happens beyond trying to fill the next one. Speakers begin to see themselves mainly as speakers. Presenting meetings replaces building a business. To me, that is a system error.
Opportunity meetings are out. EVENTS are the future!
I am talking about dependence on a regular presentation location. Daily business belongs in the hands of individual partners: one-to-one conversations in a suitable setting, perhaps two-to-one with an experienced upline at the beginning.
Professional presentation tools make this easier. Training and major events remain important. They develop people and bring the community together. They should support the business rather than tie a leader to one location.
Teach the activities you actually do. Know your own daily work, practise it and improve it. That is credible duplication.
Leadership is an active responsibility. It requires a decision, personal growth and work.
We do not build locations. We build people.
CHAPTER 04
3. Flexibility versus infrastructure
John Kalench shared a thought that captures this well: Give someone a fish and they wait for the next one. Teach them to fish and they can feed themselves for a lifetime.
A capable partner can start where no infrastructure exists. They do not have to wait for a senior leader to arrive, cut a ribbon and declare the location open for business. They are ready to go themselves.
Clear, professional, multilingual presentation and training tools help make that possible. As partners use them successfully, their skills and confidence grow.
Nothing is more attractive than success built on your own abilities. Abilities you can use again, wherever you are.
People want to be seen as individuals with potential, rather than small cogs in somebody else's machine. They respond when you genuinely care about their development.
When this article first appeared in 2008, the internet and social media were opening new ways to present a business across distances. Those tools also make a strong event culture important: people still need to meet, connect and belong.
Build strong people. Let them become leaders. Then give them room to lead.
All the best, Sven