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PMHayes
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Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 130
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2008 18:41
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It is truly amazing to me just how often people venture into a Home Business totally unprepared and without a plan, expecting to be successful. And when they fail, which unless they are very lucky, they eventually will, they blame their failure on the industry, on their company or on their upline. Home Based Business success does not happen by accident. Success must be studied, planned and worked for with determination and resolve. one of my favorite quotes goes something line this, "nothing of lasting value in life happens by accident." Success in business, in any career, in life even, is no exception. In this three part series I will discuss the three components of Home Business success mentioned previously. This list is by no means exclusive, there are other components as well. I am just going to focus on these three.
Success must be studied. If you want to be successful in any venture whether it be business or any other vocation, you must study every aspect of the endeavor. If you want to become a physician, you must first study medicine, and then apprentice under skilled and experienced physicians before you can be licensed to practice on your own. If you want to become an attorney, the same is true. It is true for any chosen profession. Can you imagine men like Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein or Marshall Field becoming successful inventors, scientists, businessmen, without being thoroughly educated on every aspect of their field of expertise? Absurd! Why would it be any different in a Home Business, MLM or otherwise? It's not.
In business, you need to know your product, your marketing and compensation plans. You need to know how much it will cost you to do business and the profitability of your business and products. Those costs include but are not exclusive to; advertising and lead generation, advertising materials, business and office supplies, telephone charges, and very important, your time. Time is the one resource you have that is non-replenishable. Once spent, you can never get it back. So, time spent learning the business, learning the products, advertising, calling leads, following up on prospects and customers, training associates or downline, must all be taken into account. Your time may be your most costly resource, because as I stated earlier, it's non renewable.
Additionally, you need to know who your target market is and how best to reach them. Products fall into some kind of niche, you need to know what that niche is for your business. You need to be able to fine tune your advertising and sales efforts to be most effective for reaching the demographic for which your particular business and products are most suited. You cannot do this unless you thoroughly understand your product, sales and marketing strategy, and your niche market.
Another important aspect of studying for success is mentor-ship. Why re-invent the wheel? Once you decide upon a business, one of the most important things you can do is to seek out a mentor, someone who has been there, done that, and knows the quickest and most efficient path to success and the pitfalls to avoid. You need to attach yourself to this person and soak up every last drop of knowledge and wisdom he or she has to share with you. Obviously you should seek out someone who is very successful and learn how to do what they do the way that they do it. Don't cut corners. Don't resist the training. They are successful for a reason. Find out what that reason is and duplicate it. It has been said the shortest path to any destination is a straight line. Well, this person can show you how to walk that straight line, in the least amount of time, with the least amount of pain and frustration. Follow them.
Lastly, and very importantly, prepare yourself for setbacks. Discuss this with your mentor, know ahead of time what those set backs can and will be, where you can expect them to crop up, and be prepared. This won't prevent setbacks from coming, but it will prepare you mentally to "tough it out" and work through them. They won't catch you by surprise and you will know how to deal with them. Trust me, you will face obstacles and difficult times. You will go through periods where you couldn't sell soap to someone covered in mud! It just happens. It's not you, it's not the company, it's not the marketing plan, it's just life, Murphy's law. And Murphy was an optimist. Knowing ahead of time that there's a boogie man about to jump out of some doorway or dark alley makes it a lot less frightening when it actually does happen and prepares you to respond in an efficient and effective manor.
To summarize, success must be studied. Prepare, apprentice, anticipate obstacles and setbacks, and you will succeed. You won't be able not to. In any career or chosen endeavor, the ones who succeed are the ones who have prepared. The ones who have prepared are the ones who have studied. The ones who have studied are the ones who are serious, dedicated, focused and determined and who have decided ahead of time, failure is not an option and success is not an accident.
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marperrr
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Joined: 4 Jun 2008
Posts: 42
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2008 20:19
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Couldnt have said it better my friend. Just dont have the patience to type that many words so Im glad you did. So many folks join legit businesses and when they dont make money overnight they save face by telling folks they got scammed.
Success has a mighty price tag (and Im not talking about money) and very few are willing to go through what it takes to pay it! 3% maybe?
Great post! Never give up!
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Newbie Shield
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Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 1032
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2008 20:24
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There is a lot to learn about a lot of things. It takes a fairly long time to do so.
Few are willing and fewer still see it through to an appreciable extent.
Sure, I can go along with Mark and say 3%...or even less.
~Newbie Shield~
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mountainmom5
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Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 792
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2008 11:14
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Very well said!
Shut off the news channel, throw away the newspaper - all you get is Constant Negative News (CNN) and we don't need that stuff to rent space in our heads.
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rcarney6
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Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Posts: 25
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2008 12:32
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Thanks for the realism reminder. We constantly hear the "sales" and even learn how to that ourselves. But we need to be reminded that consistency over the long haul in any endeavor usually pays off.
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A8ch
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Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 246
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2008 14:16
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PMHayes,
I'd summarize your very informative post with these eight words:
Failure to prepare is to prepare for failure.
Hermas
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seeyalater72
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Joined: 5 Mar 2008
Posts: 99
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2008 16:34
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Great post PM. These are truly words to live by.
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RayvinAndRob
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Joined: 22 Jun 2007
Posts: 199
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2008 19:58
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PMHayes: failure is not an option
I have a friend who failed forward for 26 years because he was working with a bad business model.
If he had continued to follow that business model even after evaluating it in the proper light, then he would have opted for failure.
If one's business model does not allow him to succeed, then he must not follow it.
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Source of Influence-- All our philosophy is dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service.(Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi)
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PMHayes
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Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 130
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2008 23:23
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TheGuild: If one's business model does not allow him to succeed, then he must not follow it.
Once again, R&R you guys show your knack for hitting the nail squarely on the head! How true, how true! One can pump all the energy, positive vibes, elbow grease, etc. at one's disposal into a bad business model, and in the end, it will still amount to failure. It's not the person who has failed, rather the business model. That's really true in life, in general.
I'm reminded of friends I have known who kept hanging around with a bad crowd. It eventually drug them down as well. My personal opinion, life is neutral. It's what one makes of it that determines their success or their failure. Great response you two. I always enjoy reading what wisdom you have to share.
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RayvinAndRob
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Joined: 22 Jun 2007
Posts: 199
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# Posted: 18 Jul 2008 16:06
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PMHayes: My personal opinion, life is neutral.
That's really interesting. It falls along the same lines as what a good friend of ours teaches people in his MLM skills-building workshops. He says all prospects are neutral. We create good ones or bad ones depending on what we say to them and how we say it.
For example, we create a bad prospect if we come across as a self-serving salesperson; or a good prospect if we keep our focus on the prospect's interests.
This topic could be another thread.
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Source of Influence-- All our philosophy is dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service.(Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi)
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PMHayes
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Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 130
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# Posted: 19 Jul 2008 00:19
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R&R, In fact it is another thread, sort of. I posted in the MLM and Network Marketing section, a thread titled, "What are your top three?" Check it out and see if you agree, and if you can expound on what you just said.
Mitch
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getagrip
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Joined: 20 Feb 2006
Posts: 1275
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# Posted: 19 Jul 2008 00:55
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I agree with the thread, except for the title. While I do think it takes hard work, dedication, focus, and a blueprint to work off of to be successful, I also think you can stumble onto a goldmine unintentionally. Penicillin, for example, was discovered by accident, BUT this accidental discovery was also the result of hard work.
I'm not someone who believes in "luck", but I remember reading something to the effect of "the more work someone puts into something, the more luck they will have", meaning that you are 10,000 times more likely to have an "accidental success" through hard work than by sitting on your butt and doing nothing. Just my two cents...
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PMHayes
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Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 130
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# Posted: 19 Jul 2008 03:19
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Getagrip, I don't really think we disagree here. Sure one can get lucky, but don't you agree we tend to make our own luck? I understand that once in a blue moon, someone will stumble upon a get rich quick deal, purely by accident. But that is not the norm.
I have a friend who knew this guy who walked into a pawn shop and saw an old guitar hagning on a hook behind the counter. He asked the pawn broker " how much?" The pawn broker told him "one hundred dollars." He bought the guitar, took it home, showed it to a friend of my friend who exclaimed, "you just bought a pre-world war II Martin D-28!" It was worth over $3,000.
It had come to the pawn shop with a whole group of items from some estate auction. Neither the person who auctioned it off nor the person who bought it at the auction nor the pawn broker had any idea as to it's true value. What are the odds of that happening? The Martin logo on the peg head had been worn off. The pawn broker sold it cheap because it looked old and had old strings on it which sounded terrible. It had some dents and scratches on it as well, so he figured he was selling some old junk guitar.
My point is, yes, one can stumble onto something purely by accident. But in this life, and in my experience, the times this happens are few and very far between! So, as I said, I think we really don't disagree at all.
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getagrip
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# Posted: 19 Jul 2008 03:28
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PMHayes: Getagrip, I don't really think we disagree here. Sure one can get lucky, but don't you agree we tend to make our own luck?
PMHayes: My point is, yes, one can stumble onto something purely by accident. But in this life, and in my experience, the times this happens are few and very far between! So, as I said, I think we really don't disagree at all.
I agree - although good things can happen to people "by accident", usually they don't, and as you said, we do make our own luck, and we are a lot more likely to make our own luck when we are out there doing something rather than sitting on our butts and doing nothing.
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RayvinAndRob
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Joined: 22 Jun 2007
Posts: 199
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# Posted: 20 Jul 2008 00:30
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PMHayes: we tend to make our own luck
getagrip: we are a lot more likely to make our own luck when we are out there doing something rather than sitting on our butts and doing nothing.
In my opinion, you are both right to agree with each other. Here's how I learned to strategically create a situation in which the likelihood of getting lucky in a home based business is increased: network everyday and maintain that network.
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Source of Influence-- All our philosophy is dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service.(Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi)
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PMHayes
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Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 130
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# Posted: 21 Jul 2008 04:01
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RayvinAndRob: In my opinion, you are both right to agree with each other. Here's how I learned to strategically create a situation in which the likelihood of getting lucky in a home based business is increased: network everyday and maintain that network.
R&R, would you care to elaborate on that one? I think I know what you are saying, but I would love to see you take it a bit deeper.
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RayvinAndRob
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Joined: 22 Jun 2007
Posts: 199
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# Posted: 21 Jul 2008 16:10
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PMHayes: would you care to elaborate
Sure thing. What I had in mind when I wrote that is something I read in a book our good friend and personal mlm mentor wrote:
"Luck is NOT random.
It's the result of what he called the spider web effect.
People who build webs tend to be lucky. People who don't build webs tend not to
be lucky.
In other words ... the more contacts you make in life ... the more relationships
you build ... the fewer bridges you burn ... the greater the universe of people
who have strong positive feeling for you ... the more people you reach out to
help ... the more likely you are to be lucky."[i][/i] - Success In Ten Steps; Michael Dlouhy; p. 30.
What do you think?
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Source of Influence-- All our philosophy is dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service.(Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi)
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Psalms1
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Joined: 21 Jul 2008
Posts: 7
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# Posted: 21 Jul 2008 18:56
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Im working on getting my home based business rolling, i would love any helpful sugesstions you might have.
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