Are you minding your own business?
Ok, what does this really mean to mind your own
business? I am sure you are saying right now,
of course I am!
Let me put it this way. If I were to ask you what
business you are in, what would you answer?
Now if you are like the 95% or most people that are
involved in MLM or network marketing; you most likely
said something like:
- My business is MasteryTV.
- My business is Excel
- My business is USANA
- My business is Retire Quickly
- ETC.
Am I correct?
Let me paint you a picture. I want to show you an example
of how sure I am with this theory.
Last week I had gone to a business seminar here in Victoria.
This seminar was named “Financial Super Stars” and was put
on by a couple of the top business philosophers, Brian Tracy
& William D. Danko. These two talked on some great
lessons on building a business and becoming financially
independent, along with a line up of other great speakers that
talked on real estate investing, stock market investing,
and Internet marketing.
One thing I just love about being at these seminars is the ability
to meet and network with like minded people.
I was with a friend of mine who I already explained this theory,
and I wanted to show him this proven statistic among network
marketers. I said to my friend “watch this” as I approached a
person who I already knew was involved with network marketing.
I started talking with him and then I asked him what his business
was. This person then answered me and said his business was
Excel. I then said to myself, he is not minding his own business.
Ok, at this moment the best answer he could have given me was
a 30 second sound byte. I have discussed the 30 second sound
byte in another article. If you have not read that article you can
send me an email and I will send it to you.
The truth is that if you gave an answer similar to the above
and said something like USANA, Excel, ETC. you are wrong.
Are you confused yet?
Lets take Excel for example. Excel is a telecommunications
company that offers people a business opportunity who want
to recommend the service to their friends and family. Where
people go wrong here is they think that excel in itself is the
business opportunity. You see the real opportunity with Excel
is the ability to create a monthly residual income, the ability
of better tax advantages,and the most important opportunity
of the ability of building a network of people. Thats the
opportunity.
There still is the question about whose business it really is then if
it is not your business, and what is your business.
Taking Excel still for example on the answer to whose business it is.
The business belongs to the person who founded Excel, not you.
The fact is you are only part of his marketing plan, or method of
marketing. This might sound a bit harsh but its true.
Lets go back to the meaning of network marketing. I am
sure you are very familiar that network marketing is only
a method of marketing. A method that is proven very well
in the past 20 + years. A method that uses affiliates, reps, or
distributors to spread the word about a certain company and their
products and services.
So what is your business?
- Well that is something you are going to have to figure out.
Let me give you give you an example of minding your own
business,with one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world,
Ray Kroc. For those that are not familiar with Ray Kroc, he
is the founder of McDonalds. This is one of the most
important lessons that I learned in the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad”
by Robert Kiyosaki. If you have not read Rich Dad Poor Dad I
fully recommend you read it.
In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, lesson #4 in chapter 3, Robert
Kiyosaki talks teaches the lesson “Mind Your Own Business”
Robert uses the example of Ray Kroc.
Ray Kroc in 1974 was asked to speak to an MBA class at the
University of Texas. After the class Ray Kroc had gone out
for some beers with the students and then asked them the question.
What business am I in? Ray asked them.
Everyone just laughed at Ray because they thought he was
joking. Then all the students answered Ray Kroc and said he
was in the hamburger business. You know, McDonalds!
Woulden't you have said the same thing?
This is kinda like the person who would answer the question
of what business are you in with; I am in telecommunications or
I am in Excel. Right?
You see the fact is that Ray Kroc's business was not the
Hamburger business or McDonalds at all.
Ray Kroc may have had a lot of focus on selling hamburgers
and selling the McDonalds franchises, but that was not his
business.
Ray Kroc's business was actually real estate!
Ray Kroc never lost sight of his own business. He was always
“minding his own business”
The McDonalds franchise was only the vehicle that allowed
him pay for the real estate he was buying. Each person who
buys into the McDonalds franchise is only an affiliate, rep,
or distributer for Ray Kroc. These people are in fact helping
to build Ray's business. There is nothing wrong with that, as
long as you understand that is what you are doing.
You have to think of your network company in the same way
that Ray thought of his McDonalds franchises, if not then
you will always be minding someone else's business.
This all fits together the same way with MLM & Affiliate
marketing. You see the MLM business opportunity or the
affiliate program that you are promoting is only your vehicle
to provide the income and money you need to build your own
business. You must realize and think this way.
When you figure out what your business is you will be able
to begin building it.
This is the very reason why I tell people they need the
following basic tools for minding their own business.
1. You do need your own website.
- Ok, I can hear people saying right now, but, but, but, I
do have a website. My company give me one when I joined the
program.
Ok, if thats you, you are going to have to go back and read
this article over again, because what I am saying is that you
need YOUR OWN website. You need a website that promotes
YOU, or YOUR company, NOT your network marketing
company.
With this website you are going to mind your own business
by promoting YOU. If you are marketing an MLM or Affiliate
program you will then market the programs from YOUR
website. This way people will see YOU before they see your
MLM or Affiliate program.
If you are not a techie or able to build your own website, then
you need to hire someone to do it for you, but you do NEED
your own website to build credibility and start minding your own
business.
2. You need web hosting.
Web hosting is where you are going to host YOUR website.
This is a server that will hold all your pages for your website.
You are going to need QUALITY and RELIABLE webhosting.
If you have read my article on the importance of a good webhost
then you will remember how my website and webhost had
disappeared one evening, because I was not using a reliable
webhost.
The webhost I now use is very reliable and I have been using
them since Jan. 2003 with no problems.
3. You need your own database, or contact list.
This is where you focus on building YOUR own list of people
you can contact over and over with and build relationships with.
The greatest tool in the world I have ever come across for
building a database and contact list is an autoresponder. I
personally can not imagine going without one.
These are the 3 basic things you will need to start “minding your own
business” on the Internet. I personally can not think of doing
any business without them. In fact I can as well explain how even an
offline company needs these tools to build their business. Trust me,
even a barber needs these tools to succeed in the coming years. I will
go into that on another day.
So the moral of the story, and lesson for the day is,
Mind Your Own Business!
And so shall you prosper!
