This is part six in our series of seven things that will make a difference for your MLM success. These seven things are what top leaders do to build a large group. The most successful ones use all of them. Some use them consciously, many use these things well subconsciously and aren't even aware they do.
These seven things aren't really skills. Some are habits. Some are the right mindset. And some are techniques. But they all are things that you must use effectively to build a large business.
So let's look at number six: Commitment
Well that sounds easy doesn't it? I mean everybody is committed, right?
Hardly.
The vast majority of the people in the business enter it with a provisional commitment at best. They say things like, "I'll give this a try."
They have a commitment to success - provided that commitment doesn't inconvenience them, interfere with their comfort zone routine, or conflict with their favorite TV shows.
Commitment is like principle. You don't really know you have it until you're tested.
Going to the weekly opportunity meetings every time until the American Idol final is not committed. Going to the major functions except when you're getting ready to move is not committed. Working the business 10 to 15 hours every week until your in-laws come to town is not committed.
Those things are the appearance of commitment, and doing them gives you the feeling you are committed. But you're really lying to yourself. Commitment is not jogging every day except when it is raining. Commitment means you get wet, or you move to the fire escape stairway.
A lot of times you hear people say, "Treat this like a business." Recently I heard something better: "Treat this like a job."
People are committed to jobs, because otherwise they get passed up for promotions, miss raises, or get fired. You don't miss work when the American Idol final is on, you move, or your in-laws come to town. Your business should be the same way.
That's the commitment we're talking about.
Here are the two most important commitments I believe we need to make in the business:
First to work the business 10 to 15 hours a week because that's what it takes to do this successfully. You can't do it with or six. You need at least ten. So you must commit to that.
But how many people actually do this? And more importantly, do you?
Watching the company video four more times during the week is not doing the business. Scrolling through the company website looking at the profiles is not doing the business. And organizing your briefcase isn't either.
Doing the business is actively prospecting and presenting. Or helping someone on your team to actively prospect or present.
Those are the "rainmaker" activities that spur growth and produce income. So you want to devote as many of your 10 to 15 hours a week to them as possible.
Here's the second big thing where your commitment is important.
Doing the business for at least one year. That's twelve months, or 52 weeks for those of you keeping score at home. Yet how many people drop out in their first two weeks? How many give up after two months? How many times have you been involved in this business in the past and quit before a year was up?
The truth is, MLM is a two to four year plan. As a rule, people do not get rich in four or six months. It takes time to locate key leaders, get them trained, and build the proper infrastructure. Unless you're rolling over a bunch of people from some other company, there are no shortcuts to that.
I recognize that a two or four year commitment seems like a long time. But come on guys, what about the 45-year commitment your regular job is asking you for? And where will you be financially at the end of those four and a half decades?
So while a year won't necessarily make you rich, it is a very good point to pause and evaluate your progress. I believe that if someone really follows a system and really works the biz for 10 to 15 hours a week for a year - they will be at a place where they won't want to stop.
So the big commitments are really working the business for 10-15 hours a week, and agreeing to do that for at least one year. So how are you doing on that?
What did you really do for your 10 or 15 hours last week? What do you have scheduled this week. Give that some serious thought.
And next week we'll look at the last of our seven things. Until then, be great!
