The best and worst thing about MLM - the people!
I’m sitting here chatting with a super star in my business. Literally one of the top producers and most recognized people in my company. She’s a bit down today because she spent some time with a real jerk. The guy wasted 10 hours of her time and THEN joined someone else.
Now I’m not going to get into the whole 10 hour thing … Instead I want to talk about people.
You know the BEST thing in network marketing is the awesome people you meet, the friends you make, the relationships you build. That’s the best thing. Some people in my downline sent me a birthday card that said they actually took time out of their thanksgiving meal to sing happy birthday to me! You know how awesome that is?! My best friends didn’t even do that, to think that these two wonderful ladies and their spouses did that really touched me.
It can also be the worst thing… You can meet some real jerks. SOME of these jerks might end up even being in your downline or might even end up being leaders you have to deal with. It’s just the nature of the business.
You can choose to allow those few bad apples to bring you down or you can focus on those really awesome people like Sandy and Jan that sang me happy birthday. You can choose to work with people you like. That’s so cool!
Someone wanted me to take a job the other day. It might even have been a dream job had I still been looking. BUT I didn’t have to look for a job and I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be beholden to some jerk of a boss who puts you on some arbitrary deadline or for a few extra dollars in profit. I hated that. I hated having to jump through hoops to provide some report to some manager somewhere. I can choose as a network marketer to work with the people I want to work with and build awesome relationships.
I think one thing we probably don’t teach enough though is… how to deal with people… how to deal with the bad apples… Does your company or does your upline train on that? I’d be curious if you had any tips you want to share or books or anything you think I should check out.
Let me know how you deal with the bad apples!
Talk to you again soon.
Ben Fitts
The Custom Greeting Card Guy
Popularity: 42% [?]
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“Let me know how you deal with the bad apples!”
First, let me ask you, “Ben, WHERE do those ‘bad apples’ exist? Are they out there… in the world… we ALL know and say they’re ‘bad apples’. It’s a fact—right?
Or do ‘bad apples’ exist WITHIN you?
Ain’t no such thing as a bad apple unless I say so.
So how I deal with them Ben, when I’m aware enough and hip enough and… (so, about 20% of the time :-), is I realize bad apples exist within ME. It’s NOT about them. It’s about ME.
So… want no mo’ bad apples… I’ve got to change ME.
And btw, if you do not see the wisdom in what I just wrote… you must be a bad apple
Thanks.
I appreciate you!
Hi John,
You’re on such a different level that admittedly I’m not sure I understand you.
If someone joins my team 6 or 8 or 20 levels down and is a real jerk or has legitimate psychological problems. How does that have anything to do with me?
Are you saying it’s about me because it is how I treat those people even the ones most people might consider a “bad apple”?
Or are you trying to tell me that I’m manifesting these kinds of bad people?
I really appreciate your answer. Thanks for taking the time to post on my humble blog.
- Ben Fitts
Ben, it’s all about who’s responsible. I say, you are for you, which includes ALL around you (as I am for me). If you weren’t there, would the bad apple be there?
It may admittedly be a stretch (but once understood and embraced, truly freeing) but if I’m facing a bad apple… that bad apple is within me NOT outside of me.
Any more clear? (Hope so… if not, lets keep a’goin’
Thanks.
I appreciate you!
Wow - I suddenly feel engaged, but can’t explain why!
This appears to be some really deep reverse psychology type of thought going on here. Here’s what I am getting out of John’s comments. Most people have a tendency to look outward for resolutions to their perceived problems, when they should start by looking for answers within (as that seems to be where most of the problems usually lie).
So the correlation to the leader seems to be that if, as a leader, you are projecting your problem on someone or something else, you are thereby teaching your prospect or downline to look outward for excuses first and at the lower levels it tends to come out as sour grapes (MLM is a pyramid, It’s a get rich scheme, I got in too late, etc).
I agree to an extent, especially if you buy in to the chaos theory. A butterfly flaps its wings in China and creates a tornado in Texas. Your downline might be 10-20 levels deep and you may not have personally sponsored them, but anything you say, any actions that you make have a ripple affect that ultimately works its way down. So only send positive tones, show them how you reflect inward first when issues arise and they will follow your example.
Then if that doesn’t work, just blame them!
I’m kidding of course.
John - getting closer?
Ben - thanks for starting the conversation!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ve also read a blog of Michelle MacPhearson and she also share the idea on MLM and I thinks it really helps to search and gather information about it especially with me where I am still new to it.