after we made this video Linda and I shot this I went back and watched it and
I realized that I didn't really get to the main point or we didn't get to the
point until kind of the end and the point of this is the value of
relationships and how important our relationships are and how do we maintain
them without sacrificing them for our business success or for financial gain
you know and this is kind of regardless of whether or not it's a network
marketing company or not but unfortunately I feel like at least in my
life where I've seen it the most is with people who are in network marketing and
so that's the reason we're making this video it's not an attack on anyone who's
in network marketing it's not even attack on network marketing as a whole
because like we mentioned many times in the video we've had a lot of people and
friends and family who have done this well and who are doing it the right way
and so that's kind of what the question is that we're posing in this video how
do you do it the right way and we talked a little bit about our experience and
maybe some of the things that weren't right that we've dealt with but I just
want to throw this on before we get into the meat so with that out of the way
let's get to it
all right so there's a little bit of a tricky one because Linda
and I both have a good amount of friends in MLM or network marketing kind of
companies we have a little bit of background in this in that I was
recruited by two or three different ones I went really deep to kind of ask a
whole bunch of questions and learn as much as I could
Linda actually sold Stella & Dot for awhile you know so we have a little bit
of inside information here now we haven't been like full-on make our
full-time living from any MLM or anything like that but we have both had
relationships are really harmed by people not using a lot of tact in a
particular MLM you know so for me the big one that I think hurt the most was a
friend years and years ago who you know we were really good friends for a while
who spent a lot of time together and life got busy and we were kind of in a
new phase of life and he reached out one day just out of the blue said Bob we
haven't seen each other in so long let's get together I just love to chat and you
know and as you can expect we went had dinner
and within like five minutes it quick I quickly realized this is not about us
just catching up it's about you me are you getting me in your downline and
I don't know it just really hurt because I think the reason it hurt is because it
was it wasn't authentic it was manipulative he was trying to get me
there without telling me that the actual reason was and if you would have just
been honest and said hey I'm selling this thing I think you might be
interested now the chances of me saying yes might have been less I might have
said no I'm not really interested in you know going to a meeting about that but
like I should have that right you know I should have that right to honestly know
what this conversation is about to make the decision whether I want to have that
conversation instead of manipulating me into you know thinking that we're just
hanging out as friends yeah I have a friend now who one of her friends
started talking to her about our bond and she said to her please don't ever
talk to me about this again because I really want us to stay friends which I
just thought was so funny turns out she became really passionate
about our bond and is now selling it and to me she's doing a fantastic job of it
being part of her lifestyle something that she's really excited about she's
doing really well yeah she's doing really well with it but
it I have never felt like I am supporting her life and if I don't buy
from her then she's not gonna make any money you know she never made me feel
like I have to buy anything she is open to talking about it but she almost
rarely even brings it up unless the conversation calls for it yeah I mean
what you're saying it's making me think about you know this instance that I was
referring to like I remember leaving that dinner feeling as if he was saying
you're dead to me if you don't do this like like my friends my circle friends
is in this group and if you're not in it with it then you're you're on the
outside and we're done like it's like that's insane that is absolutely insane
and that and that is what scares me about certain mlm certain people and
MLMs you know and it's like any any big group
of people you have people on both sides some do it well and some who don't
but yeah caution has to be used right and I think you should read this quote
but I think one of the big things is is
relationships are worth more than money that you make really yeah
the relationships that you have established and that you have you know
grown for years relatives you know and friend just friends yeah in this so this
came like I said I came out of the Washington Post and there's a quote in
there from John Taylor of the FTC it's on the FTC website and it says less than
1% of MLM participants will profit a far worse than quote legitimate small
businesses of which 39 percent are profitable or a lifetime of the business
the reason I bring that up is because like to your point if you are throwing
away or just putting all of your or a lot of your relationships at risk by
doing manipulative tactics to get people to hear about your thing for a business
that you are really likely to fail at unfortunately and sure some people do
succeed with them and that's great but the reality is that most people aren't
it's a very much a churn and burn thing lots of people and lots of people out
real really quick and to put all of your relationships you know or a lot of them
like at risk just for this off chance of succeeding this business it doesn't make
sense and it's not it's not like from a networking perspective over the course
of your life it's not smart either you know I mean the likelihood of you
staying with this one company and this one thing or the course of your life is
really really small and to to cost yourself some key relationships that
might otherwise do business with you and other businesses over the course of your
life it's just bad business it just doesn't make sense it's not it's not a
good move I think people want to feel valued and I feel like some of the techniques
that are maybe taught I don't know
extremely common to be taught in MLM but it does seem like they teach you go
after your family and friends first which I don't even have a problem with
if someone starts saying yeah it's like start with your friends and friends of
family and then have them refer you to other people and it like builds out a
network and that makes sense I don't agree I understand that logic but yeah
but the problem is that so many people in a lot of people who because this is
like human nature people start stuff and they stop things it's like it doesn't
matter what it is most people will not complete and finish what they're doing
so many people get an MLM all they do is call their initial circle and then
that's it they never go past that and what's terrible is that those people
would get in sacrifice these relationships to destroy these
relationships you know the friend I'm referring to hasn't been doing this for
years I think he did it for a little bit and really hurt our relationship and
that's the bummer is that so many people are getting in trying to make a sale
just to their immediate circle harming relationships and then not even making
any money and it's like what's the point what is the point
you know I yeah and I think actually probably your chances are a lot greater
if you are looking to meet a need rather than force things on people who aren't
really interested anyway yeah I mean that's business business 101 like find a
problem and provide a solution like that's it you know so completely agree
all right you're getting really passionate about this yeah so but just to reiterate
like I am I'm not at all saying that MLMs are bad you know we have seen
people do this well my friend you mentioned we have other friends who have
done this well I think there's a lot of bloggers actually doing this right now
pretty successfully yeah and I don't I'm yeah and by successfully I'm assuming
you're talking about real success not just making a whole bunch of money but
maintaining relationships developing relationships you know an ideally
succeeding with your business well right yeah yeah so one of the
things I wanted to add on this is that
yeah so I just want to kind of open this up for discussion with you if you've
ever been in one if you are in one if you've been approached by anybody
probably this is a whole bunch of us here I want to know what you think how
do you do this the right way you know so we've kind of like you know heart on
what's hurt us and and I think a lot of us have stories of being hurt by people
you know selling stuff but how do you do it the right way and and I you know we
have a friend who's doing that and you know it might be good to talk to her
about this too but what have you seen or what are you doing if you're an MLM or
have been to do it the right way and not compromise those relationships and to
stay honest and pure with your intentions and all that stuff so so yeah
leave us comments on the comment section down below
if you're listening to this on the podcast you can head over to the video
and leave comments there cuz I'd love to hear from you and make this a little bit
discussion they'll hopefully help all of us and if you know somebody in MLM who's
doing this the wrong way maybe there'll be some value in those comments for them
to be able to take from it and if they can save us some relationships so
so anyway that is all for today have a great rest of your day be blessed be
blessing and we will see you soon
And if you haven't already head over to SeedTime.com
so you can get your free email course from us on how to master your
money using biblical principles so that's all for today have a great rest
of your day adios