When the network marketing business is offered to people, here’s the number one attraction most recruiters offer:
#1. Make money. Big money. Part time money. Some kind of money.
Second most popular?
#2. Be your own boss.
So those who have come, responding to those calls, have done so to make money and be their own boss.
So far so good. We got who we asked for. And there’s more good news:
According to a recent poll commissioned by Yahoo, “Two-thirds of Americans have entrepreneurial aspirations…” That means millions more prospects for the business.
Now for the bad news.
When asked what their primary motivation was for their entrepreneurial aspirations, they replied that:
1. Money is not their primary motivation — only 3 percent (half of the 6 percent in 2005) said getting rich was the main reason they wanted to start a business.
2. The main reason for launching a business: Doing work that they really love.
3. The second most popular reason: “To be my own boss.”
We got the second one right – “To be my own boss” is the second biggest reason people pursue the entrepreneurial dream.
Now for the two competing number ones.
Recruiters pitch: Give me people who want to make money, especially get rich money.
Folks looking for their own business seek: Give me something I love doing. Finally.
If today’s American aspiring entrepreneurs are our potential recruits, and if they are to be taken at their word, how many do you think will join us (versus other business options) if we continue to hold out the big money as the main (and often only) attraction?
Our market says it’s looking for something to love first. Be their own boss second. And money – well it’s dead last for 97% of the prospects.
The times they are a-changin’…
Next post I’ll tell you how Starbucks is doing it. Hehe.
Cue ‘sound of soapbox being shuffled into place’…
>Money is not their primary motivation…
Yeah, right. Absolutely.
Beggin’ to differ ma’am. People lie…. and, where money’s involved, they lie big and often.
It’s uncool to be upfront about just how much the financial reward means to us – so we divert the focus.
Unless they’re a) drunk or b) have a 45 parked against their temple there’s little reason to trust the veracity of survey responses. ’twas but a few short weeks back when you said ‘talk is cheap… hypothetical chatter where no one is required to make a commitment’ [in a handbag-swinging exchange bewteen yourself and Fogg here and there – I won’t post the link because his site is password protected].
Even a cursory look-around shows many really ARE motivated by the money… there’s almost no soul in the stuff they do – a sure sign they ain’t in lurve with it.
>and if they are to be taken at their word, how many do you think will join us (versus other business options) if we continue to hold out the big money as the main (and often only) attraction?
So let’s not take them at their word – many/most of those truly wanting ‘freedom/stuff I love’ go do craft-type stuff instead and eke-out a financially meagre but worthwhile-to-them living [I do it myself with ‘commercial consulting’ ;-)].
Instead let’s recognise that the main draw of this business is the ‘bus loads of work for no money thing’… DAMN, FREUDIAN-SLIP TYPO THERE… I meant to write ‘bus loads of money for no work’. As long as companies [even those headed by ‘apparently more ethical’ folk like Brooke] so-blatantly structure their offering toward ‘unlimited wealth (often largely unrelated to effort)’ things’ll always be this way.
So the short answer to your ‘how many?’ is ‘lots’ – they’ll keep comin’ in droves awhile longer. And those already here will continue to change partners and try riding with different companies before they quit.
>versus other business options? That’s perhaps a key point… would many who come to NM do anything else?
Those people who invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a ‘real business’ like a Mercedes dealership or McDonalds franchise – or tens of thousands in lower level conventional businesses – don’t do so on the promise/premise of ‘unlimited wealth’. Instead they’re attracted by a sensible business proposition.
And ‘sensible business proposition’ is something that most of this business simply ain’t – which is why it too-often draws ‘unsensible people’ (and many otherwise-sound folk who willingly suspend rational judgment upon approaching the parlour of the NM spider).
So, what’s the solution? Could we outlaw greed, laziness and stupidity? Oh, I wish. Unless-and-until NM companies conduct their affairs in a manner more-akin to ‘real businesses’ like Apple, Amazon, CNN, Wal-Mart, etc we’ll be stuck with a sh*t image. And, the criticism shouldn’t stop at the companies – many coaches and distributors should also be in those cross-hairs.
Maybe we just need to close all the companies, exile the coaches and throw-out all the distributors… completely clear the decks and enlist some commercially aware outside-the-business expertise and experience to come in and set things up properly and teach that ‘this is how it could be done’ lesson.
So… tell me about Starbucks. 😉
Let’s grant for argument’s sake that they might all be lying, to the pollsters and perhaps to themselves. Talk is indeed, cheap, though not always false.
If these folks have been working for years at a job they didn’t care for much, solely because it paid the bills, i.e. the money, it’s reasonable to think that THEY think they’re ready for something they enjoy, which also makes money.
All things being equal, say money, they’d hold out and choose something today that they enjoy over something they didn’t. (Many people are so starved for something to enjoy they squeeze in extra time evenings to VOLUNTEER for their favorite causes. Think of the millions of bloggers who write because they want to convey something, and who do so each day, for no $ compensation, like me.)
So it’s those people I refer to – those who are looking to do something with meaning, first. Money second.
Yes there will always be the money-driven types.
I’m talking about the meaning-in-my-life-driven types.
In network marketing, there are things that keep people in it even if they don’t make much money. Sometimes it’s just the people they want to be around. Sometimes it’s knowing you’ve made a difference in someone’s life.
I am suggesting leading with such things, for those of us for whom that motivation fits, AND oh yes, you can maybe make some money, too.
The market is very different today than even 10 years ago. Marketers are not believed. Companies who demonstrate they just want to sell their stuff to everyone and make money are not doing well, e.g. GM, Ford.
Ford just announced they’re going to stop selling and pushing their cars onto people who don’t want them anymore. (!)
People are tired of the constant hammering and being treated as part of a “mass” market to be marketed “to” and overcome like prey.
A little fun and meaning in life’s work might be a welcome change for many of us.
Compare the image of Steve Jobs of Apple Computers (iPod creators), whose company is WAY WAY smaller than Microsoft, and the image Bill Gates. Who would you rather work for?
Gates, the guy with obviously way more money
is perceived as money & control driven, stifling competitors whenever possible, and copying good ideas from others.
Jobs’ teams come up with new fun stuff THEY are are crazy about and work around the clock because they love the challenge of being first, funnest, and coolest. Not biggest, #1, or with the most money in the bank. (Those ideas seem to be relics of the excess-crazy 80’s and 90’s, don’t the?)
Anyway, it’s the fun and meaning driven kinds of people I think the poll represents, of whom I am one, and it’s those people I think we are losing with our singular approach – leading with the money.
People who go for meaning and fun DO make a difference, like Google and Apple, for example. And now and then, they end up as #1 in one market or another. But it wasn’t the consuming goal.
It’s those folks I dream about attracting to our business.
I’m with you, Kim. I am in this business because I really do enjoy most of it (dealing with knuckleheads on the phone notwithstanding!)
I had a script doctoring session with a few members of my team last night and we created an AWESOME first date script for one of the women on the call. I received this email from her this morning:
Dear Suzanne,
I LOVE my script. I meant it when I said that it took the trials and tribulations of my family from the last 2 and half years and packaged it in such a way that none of our story was compromised and is just as powerful as the process of living it,I am amazed! It is exactly how it occurred with ending that our family is stronger and better off since bringing melaleuca into our house. Last weekend we had a family fun weekend. We haven’t done that in a year because it has been difficult to predict how Lyndon would act, so we sort of gotten into the habit of staying close to home. We all, as a family, had a great time and were able to stay the whole time w/o meltdown or aggressive behavior, it been a long time since we did anything like that.
The reason I am e-mailing is I don’t know how I came off last night. It is not the sharpest time for me and I fear i might’ve been a bit flat. When I read my script this a.m., I was just awestruck that it sounded the way it does. I have a strong respect for what you and your support staff do and an even deeper respect that it comes from such a positve passion and conviction to help people achieve their goals. I am lucky to have had my life’s path cross with MomsForLife.
Thank you,
Jennifer
That PLUS a paycheck? Damn, I’m blessed. 🙂
Suzanne
>Sometimes it’s knowing you’ve made a difference in someone’s life.
I know that issue features in the next entry, and it’s worth a note here.
Apple and Google etc ‘work’ because they do cool stuff in a cool way. That’s ‘cool’ by reasonably objective markers. Most NM companies don’t do cool stuff in a cool way. Quite the reverse… they take themselves way too seriously – with aggressive and hypey marketing of products which too-often simply don’t stack up well in objective analysis.
[‘objective analysis’… how rare an event is that in this ‘my eyes are closed, and I’m not listening’ business?]
>It’s those folks I dream about attracting to our business.
Fine. Noble. And… here comes a sweeping generalisation… we won’t attract the same quality of participant… because… quality people almost immediately recognise what a pile of self-serving sh*t most of NM really is – and hence stay well clear.
So, the people we do draw are lower caliber (exactly what’s wanted by the companies, coaches and heavy hitters – because they can be manipulated into buying more stuff).
And this’ll remain so until the foundation of the business shifts toward a more enlightened perspective.
There’s a second point here… many of those lower caliber folk then take themselves too seriously and run around gushing about ‘how wonderful it all is’ with those ridiculous overblown statements – like ‘I help people start their own independent enterprise’ and ‘where else will you find more people committed to improving their lives and the lives of millions of others’ – the net effect of which (to more sensible people) is to send the laughometer way off the scale.
>The market is very different today than even 10 years ago. Marketers are not believed. Companies who demonstrate they just want to sell their stuff to everyone and make money are not doing well, e.g. GM, Ford.
It’s really not that different – just that the timeframe is compressed.
Gulliver,
Did someone rain on your personal parade just prior to you writing this second comment?
You write:
So, the people we do draw are lower caliber (exactly what’s wanted by the companies, coaches and heavy hitters – because they can be manipulated into buying more stuff).
And this’ll remain so until the foundation of the business shifts toward a more enlightened perspective.
Excuse me, but NM drew me, and I’ll thank you very much not to call me ‘lower caliber’.
As for the foundation of the business shifting toward a more enlightened perspective – just what exactly do you think this blog is all about?? And if we don’t, as Kim advises, start with the people (a-hem…ourselves), where do you propose the shift begin? Surely, you’re not suggesting anyone other than the man in the mirror?
Maybe you’re just wearing your devil’s advocate suit, but g, you need a hug and a new outlook.
Suzanne
S… if there’s a specific point you’d like me to constructively address, just say.