Transforming Setbacks into Success in Network Marketing

Chapters

• 1:33 Navigating the Climb in Business
• 13:45 Building Success Through Network Marketing
• 23:53 Embrace the Climb

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:33

Hey guys, welcome back to the Laundromat Diaries. This is Angela McKay, your host, and today, on the podcast, I'm bringing you an episode that I felt needed to be talked about. I have been witnessing this personally, I've seen it so much pop up professionally in the network marketing space and I just feel like it's a conversation that needs to be had about the you know kind of where the industry is and what it's like to kind of navigate through this uncharted territory of time where you see companies literally just kind of going away. And I know personally, you know, making changes after you know multiple years and building a business with company. And making a change last year was a lot and that was a decision I decided to make independently. Although the company is still there. It was something for me personally to leave because of the alignment and belief system in the company and it just felt like it was a season to move on and to hit the restart button. But it came with a lot of scar tissue, it came with a lot of overwhelm, it came with a lot of pain. And then I see people going through that, but not by of their own choice, but because the company has decided to make those changes, and so it feels a little, a little scary out in business.

Speaker 1: 2:58

We're in a rebuild, I believe, within the industry and within the world, and you know all kinds of things, and I think, as an entrepreneur, it's like how do you get through the hard times in business? Because, friend, there's going to be hard times. And I often would say, like in a training, like everyone wants to get placed on the top of the mountain where the view is spectacular and you've arrived, like that is always seems to be the goals, like how fast can I get to the top? But I think there's some things that need to be understood about the speed of success and and the value in the climb. And so when I do a training on this, quite often with my team or coaching clients, I say, listen, I know it sounds like sexy and amazing to be at the top and the oh my gosh, the view is amazing and that's great. You're there. Now what? And there's probably a lot of fulfillment for arriving quickly, but those are very small, small, small percent of people in any business or any industry. The fact is, you really do have to work. And so I said, instead of sitting there and getting kind of like tunnel vision on just the arrival or destination syndrome. I want you to enjoy the journey and this is something I've been talking about in some of my past episodes.

Speaker 1: 4:18

But I feel like so many people are missing out on the value of hard work and climbing to that peak in their business and to understand that that peak today might look different than that peak tomorrow or in a year or 10 years, but we get so focused on the peak that we miss all the steps that get us there. Does that hit someone right now? Because, when you think about it, especially in the network marketing space, I will have coaching calls with someone who maybe just recruited you know three, four people. I will have coaching calls with someone who maybe just recruited you know three, four people like yeah, but I didn't get this. Many like so and so, or I didn't get to this rank, and they diminish the success steps in the climb and journey industry and that's why people burn out faster, because they're not finding joy and fulfillment with those steps that are necessary to get to the top.

Speaker 1: 5:20

Most people start at the bottom and they start climbing, and that climb is income producing activities. It is those daily things that advance your business so that you can get to the top. Whether that looks like a rank or a goal, an income on a check, an amount of people you're impacting, like a trip that you're running for, like that peak can change and often you have multiple peaks within your business year based on the goals that you're setting. So it's like this goal at the very top and everyone's just like but I just want to get there. Well, yeah, we all want to get there. But if we get there, if you've ever met someone who just got it, do they appreciate it? Unfortunately, I've been around some folks in my career that have gotten a lot of like the easy street of network marketing. Right, they get, they get sexy contracts, they get, they get leads from things and they get specialized treatment. I mean, we can, we can say that it happens. It's not the best part of the industry, but it it does happen and they get to the top so quick and they don't appreciate the view. Now you take the person down at the bottom who is still stepping and still growing, and maybe they stumble or maybe they stall out and they have to take a break. But they're less likely to burn out if they're sitting there and they're looking at each step and appreciating the climb.

Speaker 1: 6:50

And what I've found over the years of myself climbing that mountain of business, climbing to that goal, is there's an anticipation that kicks in. Like you're climbing, you know the first step's, like I'm doing this because it's going to be spectacular at the top, the view is going to be amazing, my life's going to change. Like you're seeing all of this kind of play out in your head, right, and that's what gets you going, that's what gets you started. That's why you signed up, that's why you decided to be an entrepreneur, that's why you joined a business and said I'm going to make this work, because this is going to do this, whatever that goal is for me. And then maybe a couple of things happen and you stumble, you scrape your knee or you fall back, you get tired and winded as I imagine I probably would climbing a mountain and you stop and you go.

Speaker 1: 7:41

Hmm, is this worth the climb? I'm tired, this is starting to kind of hurt. I'm feeling a little discouraged. I forgot what that was going to look like at the top. Can I do this? Will I do this? And, more importantly, the top. Can I do this? Will I do this? And, more importantly, do I want to do this, like, ooh, those are some questions right, like you have as you start to climb, and sometimes people have those in the first 30 days, which blows my mind. They don't even have a 30 day window of excitement because they want such quick success. And I never quite understood that, because where else in the world can you start a business and expect 30 days to go from the red to the black? See, I know, I ran boutique businesses. There's no way I was going to take all of my investments and say in 30 days if I'm not profitable and out of debt, I'm going to close my doors, like that would not ever be a mindset.

Speaker 1: 8:33

But in network marketing kind of is, it's kind of like the 30 day, maybe 60 day rule. And then all of a sudden they're like where did they go? What happened to them? Where they were so excited they were climbing and the reality is is that they just weren't being taught how to get to the top. They had destination syndrome, they had burnout. They didn't understand that it was going to be work, it was going to take time, but that's okay. And they didn't understand finding value and joy within the journey and celebrating those small steps to success.

Speaker 1: 9:15

And so often when the person's climbing and there was years I climbed, I climbed and everyone's like, ah, I'm like I'm getting there. You know, and I was one of the top tier leaders of my last company, but I didn't do it as fast as everyone else. And other people will come to me and say, well, why aren't you here like that so fast? And I let that really get into my mindset for a while. It really messed with me, guys, because I was like gosh, I'm not fast enough, like I let other people's ideas of my journey become what I felt about it. And those were the harder parts of my business, where burnout kicked in, limiting beliefs kicked in and self-sabotaging kicked in. And those were the harder parts of my business where burnout kicked in, limiting beliefs kicked in and self-sabotaging kicked in. And all of a sudden I'm like falling backwards. And all of a sudden I'm like, wait, I thought I was up here on the mountain climb. Why am I down here?

Speaker 1: 10:04

And so there's a mindset shift that has to happen as you climb, because as you get up there, it's almost like climbing a mountain. If you think about that, you're training, right, you're training to get up there. You just can't. I couldn't be like tomorrow, we're going to plan a trip, on Saturday we're going to climb a mountain. Like that would kill me, to be honest, that would kill me. But. But you have to train for that. You have to strengthen yourself physically to climb right. Well, you have to strengthen yourself mentally to climb.

Speaker 1: 10:36

In business, there is a business muscle that has to be worked out, and the more you work it, the faster you're going to get to the next goal as you climb to the top. And so oftentimes when people say, well, I'm not getting to my next spot, I'm like well, what are you flexing? What is your muscle activity? What are you doing in your business? And they go. Well, you know I'm posting. Or you know, I've talked to my friend three times and she's thinking about it. And if that were the case in anything, a good coach would say that's not enough, you're not training enough, you're not flexing enough, you don't have enough stamina, you're not flexing enough, you don't. You don't have enough stamina to go to the next level. This is what you need to do. And then that's where you start to teach people how to really work their business like a business, because it absolutely is a business. If you want it to be a hobby, it can be a hobby.

Speaker 1: 11:36

I'm here to talk to the business people and build six and seven figure incomes and five and six figure months. Those are all possible without making claims. I've seen it, I've done it and the reality is is I didn't do it overnight. I didn't get to the top fast. I had to learn. I had to flex a muscle, I had to train, I had to pivot and I had to flex a muscle, I had to train, I had to pivot and I had to celebrate the steps to keep going or I was going to burn out.

Speaker 1: 12:06

So my question is to you is where are you on your journey to your next goal or to the top? Because I know, as I started to climb in my business and I started to get a hint that, like I was almost to the top, I was almost to that goal, the excitement from the beginning kicks back in. All of a sudden. You're like, oh my gosh, this is going to be so, it's going to be so amazing. I can I can visualize what it's going to like to stand at the very top here on this mountain. I can see it in my mind what it's going to look like. I can imagine how it's going to feel the success, the pride, the accomplishment, the happiness, the joy of seeing it through. And it kind of gives you that little bit of adrenaline to push through right Like I see leaders go from excited to this lull and then they push through and they get excited again and they break through.

Speaker 1: 13:03

And I always say that is the purpose of the climb and business, because when you get up there you're anticipating the outcome versus just being plopped up there with no anticipation. There's an appreciation with anticipation. And so if you're in a climb in your business right now and you might feel like maybe you're at the bottom and you're just like got my boots on, I'm ready to go, let's do this. And you got the energy, that's awesome. I'm going to tell you right now, friend, there's going to be a moment on that climb where it's not going to feel so awesome.

Speaker 1: 13:45

That is where you flex your business mindset and you push through. That's where you sit there and say look at how far I've come, look what I've done to get to this point. I got this. I know what to do. I know my business has opportunity. I believe in it. I know these products are amazing and I believe in it. I know this comp ham plays I've seen it. I believe in it. I know that people are winning here. I see it. There's proof. I can do this too and you get into a mindset that allows you to push through with anticipation of getting to the top of whatever that goal is for you.

Speaker 1: 14:20

You know, I think like for a lot of people in network marketing, they come in and they want it easy, like the world is kind of like I tell my kids there's the workers and then there's the wishers and then there's the ones that just really they want it all done for them. That's not network marketing. If that's your mentality, where you want it quick and you want it easy, you're looking for the fast way and that is the true scheme out there. And if anyone's telling you that, run because it's not it's a work opportunity, telling you that run because it's not it's a work opportunity. You're an entrepreneur and it has the ability to really impact your life, because you're producing opportunities to people to leverage amazing products right.

Speaker 1: 15:10

You're kind of like your own store without the high overhead and it's a very low risk opportunity, and I say that because I've ran the big boutiques with all the inventory I had to put on the stores. I had to hire the people, do the payroll. I had to turn the lights on and pay the utilities. I had to rent the buildings. I had to get the sign permits. I had to get the fixtures. I had to invest in the POS system.

Speaker 1: 15:39

I had a lot of time and money a lot of time and money for physical establishment, and what I saw as a former boutique owner was that the network marketing space allowed me to fall in love with products that I wanted to represent personally with my brand, and bring them into market with a very little risk. I didn't have to fill, you know, a warehouse of products to sell them, and in fact I had a website that I could sell the products on. The beautiful part is I didn't even have to buy them to sell them, unless I wanted to. They could just ship directly from my company to my customer, and so I was getting paid to be kind of the marketing billboard for the company, which we see that happening all the time. There was very little risk, but there was high reward because if I could get the products into more people's hands. Then guess what? Every time someone touched a product that came from my website, I got paid. But then there was this thing called network marketing, where I was allowed to build a network of marketers.

Speaker 1: 16:43

That's not a scheme, it's a business. I'm teaching other people how to leverage amazing products and make income, and they don't have to spend a bunch of money and stockpile products, but they just have to utilize marketing online marketing, local marketing, however they want to market. There's not a one size fits all, but if they sell the product, they get paid. In addition, if they get paid and I'm teaching them how there's a small part of that that I get a kickback too, because it's a team effort. It's not a sit here and collect checks. You have to work your business. There's standards that have to be met, but what I saw was in the big picture of entrepreneurship.

Speaker 1: 17:26

Over here, I had a boutique full of a 5,000 square foot boutique full of stuff that people would have to physically walk through my door to get, and then I'd have to sell it and I'd have to buy it and put it back on the shelf and there's a chance that maybe no one would buy it, and now I'm at a loss and there was higher risk there and it was tying up money and I didn't wanna do that forever because I knew that that was hard. When the economy got hard, if people were walking through your door, you weren't making money. And then network marketing came and I'm like my mind was blown. I'm like wait a minute. Because I said drink my mom juice. Someone actually went to the website that I shared, just kind of nonchalantly, and they ordered the mom juice because I gave a recommendation and they paid me and I didn't have to touch the product, I didn't have to go to the post office and package and ship it and I got paid.

Speaker 1: 18:22

My mind was blown when I understood the power of network marketing and I thought this is, this is huge. And then if I help other people that love drinking this to share with their friends and they want to buy it because the products are so good, then there's a little bit more I can make and I thought, well, watch out world, here I come and guys, I went from a skeptic, struggling business owner in a boutique to a network marketing top leader because all of a sudden it made so much sense and so I was willing to start the climb. I was willing to learn how to build a business and I was learning to kind of pivot through the pain points of business, knowing with anticipation that this does work. And so, my friend, what I'm saying to you is there is going to be hard seasons, there's going to be hard days in business. That's just entrepreneurship. And if you're going through a hard season right now, my heart does go out to those that you know by no choice of their own, their business is gone, their business is gone. And that's why I teach and train entrepreneurs how to build a personal brand, because if you build a personal brand, it goes with you. Your business doesn't go with the company goes, and if the company goes away, your business goes away. But when you build a personal brand, you're building your own kind of establishment. That's your real estate and business. And so I really think, in the season that we're in right now, we probably haven't seen the last of that.

Speaker 1: 20:10

Unfortunately, there's a lot of changes happening in the world and in business and even in our network marketing business space. But what I can attest to you is one you have to know your purpose, you have to know why you want to start to climb. That's going to get you moving. And then, along the purpose, you have to understand the value and the vision of what you're working for, because that's going to put some air in your lungs and help keep you moving in the hard season. And then you have to anticipate the outcome and by anticipating the outcome you can get the momentum. It's the proof that it works that gets people fired up and that's why I always say in business the faster you can get your team member paid, the faster you can show that this actually works, the bigger the dream is for them. The goal on that mountain actually becomes like I see it happening. It's proof that it works. And if you don't help them get that, guess what? They're sitting at the base of the mountain excited to climb, but they burn out really fast. And that's why you have to understand that during this climb you have to have systems and onboarding and support and community. In your business. You have to coach your team through the journey of climbing that success ladder or that success mountain.

Speaker 1: 21:37

But, friend, I'm here to say as I close this out today, the possibilities are there. There's proof all over what. Wherever you sit in business, whatever company you're in, look around someone's winning and they are just proof that you can win too. And I would take that proof and I would place a goal at the top of your mountain. And I would take that proof and I would place a goal at the top of your mountain and I would start to climb.

Speaker 1: 22:03

I would start to climb and if you're brand new and having to start over like I was seven months ago when you got off the top of the mountain and you kind of fell down, it kind of hurt. Kind of hurt, leaving you know that income and security and familiarity of where I was sitting for 10 years and I go back down to the bottom, at first it can feel a bit overwhelming. You might even question can I climb again? Do I have what it takes to do this and get up there again? And I'm here to tell you I had all of those feelings. But instead I said I'm going to take the first step and then I'm going to take the next step and when it gets hard I'm going to use my experience as evidence that it can happen again. And I often remind myself there were seasons before I felt the same way. This feels familiar and I got to the top then. So why can't I do it? Now I can. It's merely a decision of will I climb, can I stay the course? Can I flex that business muscle enough, and do I want it enough to get to the top? The how is really in the vision and the purpose. There is not going to be a day you're going to want to jump out of bed if you don't have those two things in place and so ask yourself what am I working for? What is it going to feel like? Why do I want to keep going? And when you define that, you'll have a reason to get up and climb each and every single day. And so that's my message for you today. Friend, it's not.

Speaker 1: 23:50

This was not a real polished episode.

Speaker 1: 23:54

This was kind of a real raw one, but you know what I felt like in this, this season of business.

Speaker 1: 24:00

It was a conversation I've been having over and over again with cross line leaders that I've seen having to make big, big decisions, to fellow entrepreneurs that worked with me, to my new team, and, and what I will say is that the climb is the way of business and it's the way to success. There's no getting around it, there's no just hopping to the top of the mountain and really having what it takes to stay there. So embrace the climb, have fun with the climb and, more importantly, like I always say, find joy in the journey. I guarantee you every single day in business is going to be so much more valuable when you fall in love with what you do. So that's the episode, friends, and until next time I want you to just kind of keep on dancing through life's hard moments. I love the fact that we can sit there and embrace the imperfect perfection of life and just kick all that guilt and mindset stuff that just holds us back to the curb because, friend, you do have what it takes to go to the next level. Take care.