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It’s a numbers game...you have your own set of odds.

Text Box: Go Through the Numbers
Text Box: Date: 10/19/2007
Text Box: Network Marketing - It’s an Asset, Not a Job
By Robert Kiyosaki 
Text Box: Date: 2/01/2008

I am sometimes asked, "Why do so few people make it to the top of their network marketing system?"

The truth is, the top of the network marketing system is open to everyone — unlike traditional corporate systems, which allow only one person to reach the top of the company. The reason most people do not reach the top is simply because they quit too soon. So why would someone quit short of the top?

Most people join only to make money. If they don't make money in the first few months or years, they become discouraged and quit (and then often bad-mouth the industry!). Others quit and go looking for a company with a better compensation plan, but joining to make a few quick dollars is not the reason to get into the business.

The Two Essential Reasons to Join a Network Marketing Business

Reason number one is to help yourself. Reason number two is to help others. If you join for only one of these two reasons, then the system will not work for you.

Reason number one, means that you come to the business primarily to change quadrants — to change from the E (Employee) or the S (Self-employed) quadrant to the B (Business owner) or I (Investor) quadrant.

This change is normally very difficult for most people — because of money. The true 'E' or 'S' quadrant person will not work unless it is for money. This is also what causes people to not reach the top of the network marketing system: they want money more than they want to change quadrants.

A 'B' quadrant or 'I' quadrant person will also work for money, but in a different way. The 'B' quadrant person works to build or create an asset — in this case, a business system. The 'I' quadrant person invests in the asset or the system.

As a 'B' or an 'I', sometimes you don't get paid for years; this, a true 'E' quadrant or 'S' quadrant person will not do. It's not part of their core values. Risk and delayed gratification disturb them emotionally.

Delayed Gratification and Emotional Intelligence

One of the beauties of network marketing is that it focuses on developing your emotional intelligence as well as your business skills.

Emotional intelligence is an entirely different matter from academic intelligence. In general, someone with high emotional intelligence will often do better than someone with high academic intelligence but low emotional intelligence. That explains, in part, why some people do well in school but not so well in the real world.

The ability to delay gratification is a sign of higher emotional intelligence. In a recent study of emotional intelligence, it was found that people who could delay gratification often led more successful lives than those who could not.

This is why the educational system inherent in a good network marketing opportunity is so important. It's the emotional education or emotional intelligence aspect of their programs that I find so valuable for people.

Many people write me and tell me they loved my book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, but I fear that many of them don't get the most important point of the book: Lesson 1, "The rich don't work for money."

Once I have built or bought an asset, that asset works hard to make money for me. But I will not work for money — I will work only to build or buy assets. Those assets make me richer and richer, while I work less and less. That is what the rich do. The poor and middle class work hard for money, and then buy liabilities instead of investing in assets.

What Kind of Asset is a Network Marketing Business?

Remember, there are two reasons to be successful in network marketing: to help yourself, and to help others. Reason number one means helping yourself get to the 'B' side of the quadrant. What about reason number two?

The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you don't really make much money unless you help others leave the 'E' and 'S' quadrants and succeed in the 'B' and 'I' quadrants.

If you focus on helping others make this shift, then you will be successful in the business. If you only want to teach yourself to be a 'B' quadrant and 'I' quadrant person, then a true network marketing system won't work for you. You may as well go to a traditional business school, which focuses only on your becoming a 'B' quadrant person.

The beauty of a network marketing business is that your goal is to create assets, which are other 'B's working under you — and their job is to create other 'B's working under them. In traditional business, the focus is for the 'B' to have only 'E's and 'S's working for them.

The type of business I was taught to build is a business with me at the top and 'E's and 'S's at the base. I really don't have room at the top for many other 'B's, which is why in my businesses, I strongly recommend that all my employees look into network marketing as their own part-time business.

The traditional corporate system really is a pyramid, because there are a few 'B's and 'I's near the top, and more 'E's and 'S's at the base. A network marketing system is a reverse pyramid: its primary focus is to bring more and more 'B's to the top.

One type of pyramid, the traditional type, has its base on the ground; the other type has its base in the air. It's a pyramid that pulls you up instead of pushing you down. A network marketing business gives everyone access to what used to be the domain only of the rich.

Click on the pyramid above to see it’s structure

Mark Yarnell, minister in a small town in Texas, was headed for bankruptcy and just about to lose his car and home. He looked for a way out and discovered Network Marketing. Luckily, he had a wise sponsor. The sponsor gave Mark "THE PROMISE": THIS BUSINESS CAN SET YOU FREE FINANCIALLY IN ONE TO THREE YEARS. But he also gave him "THE PRICE": TO SUCCEED, YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE AND CONQUER 4 MAJOR ENEMIES.

Mark said, "It's a deal." Mark then invited 200 friends over to his house to watch a video. 80 said "No, not interested." Mark had encountered ENEMY #1: Rejection.

He thought, "No problem. My sponsor warned me about that. I've got 120 people still coming over." Guess what? 50 didn't show up. He had just met ENEMY #2: Deception.

Mark thought, "No problem, my sponsor warned me about that. I've got 70 people who watched the tape." Guess what? 57 said, "Not interested." He had just encountered ENEMY #3: Apathy.

Undaunted, Mark thought, "No problem. 13 people signed up." Guess what? 12 of them dropped out of the business shortly. ENEMY #4: Attrition had left Mark with just one serious associate.

To this day, that single distributor earns Mark over $50,000 per month. You may have heard of Bill Britt, one of the most successful distributors in Amway. Some years ago, 20/20 did a feature story on Amway. They spent 19 minutes interviewing whiners and complainers - several distributors who had failed and showed the garages full of products they couldn't sell. During the last minute of the show, Mr. Britt was interviewed in front of his palatial home. He was asked, "Mr. Britt, this business has obviously worked for you. What's your secret?" He replied, "There is no secret. I simply showed the plan to 1200 people. 900 said, 'No.' and only 300 signed up. Out of those 300, only 85 did anything at all. Out of those 85 only 35 were serious, and out of those 35, 11 made me a millionaire." Like Mark Yarnell, Bill worked through the numbers.

Jason Boreyko, now president of New Vision, told this story recently. When he was a distributor in Matol, he signed up 50 people. He heard a lot of "No's" on the way to those 50. Jason took one man, who he knew would be terrific in the business, to lunch, told him about the business and the man said "No." Jason took the man to lunch again the next month and told him the updates. Once again the man said, "No." Jason sent him some more information and took him to lunch again the next month. And again the man said, "No."
That went on for six months. The seventh month, something had changed for the man, and he said, "Yes." That man made Jason over one million dollars. Jason also worked through his numbers.

According to Richard Poe in "Wave Three", while starting Amway, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, America's eleventh richest people, recruited 500 people. 495 dropped out. The five that didn't quit built Amway. All $7 billion of Amway's business was built under those 5 people. Jay and Rich had to work through their numbers. There are many similar stories.

Here's the lesson: Your success is directly related to the degree to which you are willing to work to find others like yourself who are committed to succeed. Mark Yarnell's odds were 1 out of 200. Bill Britt's were 11 out of 1200. Jason Boreyko's odds were 1 out of 50.

Would you be willing to go through 200 people to find the 1 who will make you $50,000 a month? Or go through 200 people to become a millionaire? Or hear uncounted "No's" to sign up 50 people to find a million dollar person? I hope you will.... It's easier when you know the odds up front.

But here's the catch: You have your own set of odds and you won't know what they are until AFTER YOU'VE SUCCEEDED. So if you've gone through 50 or 100 people and you haven't found 1 serious person yet, you can either give up and assume the business doesn't work, or recognize that you are working though your own numbers.