*=========================================* M A S T E R N E T W O R K E R The Art of Building A business by Lon Lindsey MASTER NETWORKER Number 102 September 3, 2002 http://www.masternetworker.com *=========================================* BUSINESS-BUILDING AND NATURE AT ITS WORST 90% FAILURE RATE? ARE YOU DESTINED FOR FAILURE? Are you destined for failure when it comes to building your own home-based business? Do you realize that business-building statistics show there is a 9 in 10 probability that you will be a failure at building your own home-based business? Could it be that it is a person's "nature" to fail? The above sounds very negative and even like it is a "chance" thing or something based on fate. When I ask, "are you destined for failure", destiny is not a "chance" word. In fact, "destiny" is defined as "the inevitable or necessary succession of events; what will necessarily happen to one; that which determines events." Notice destiny is based on certain things taking place (a series of events). It doesn't indicate whether the events are negative or positive and it doesn't indicate whether "destiny" is good or bad. You see, we are often in control of our own destiny based on the events we try to create and try to have some control over. My asking you "what is your destiny" can only be answered by you based on a series of events you may cause to happen. So, when I ask "are you destined for failure when it comes to building your own home-based business", I'm not suggesting you don't have any control over such, but what I am saying is, based on some principle, there is a 9 in 10 probability that you will be a failure at building your own home-based business. Could it be based on the "nature" of people? THE NATURE OF PEOPLE What is your nature? Webster defines "nature" in this context as "the quality or qualities that make something what it is; inherent tendencies of a person; the desires, drives, etc. of a person." Hmmmm. notice he uses the word, "inherent" which he defines as "inborn." Ouch! Could it be that how successful a person is at building a business is inborn, thus a possible of lack of what one can do about it? When it comes to business-building, are 90% of the people who get involved destined for failure because it is an inherent tendency of people? How about you? What is your nature? What are your tendencies? WHAT IS YOUR NATURE? 1. Is it your nature to be lazy or to be driven? 2. Is it your nature to be positive or negative? 3. Is it your nature to be full of hope or full of despair? 4. Is it your nature to create success or to accept failure? 5. Is it your nature to get up when you are down or stay down when you are down? 6. Is it your nature to accept things the way that they are rather than trying to make a difference? If you believe the above statements are "inborn" . . . .thus a person's nature, then that would suggest we have no control over who we are, what we are capable of doing, our destiny, our life. If, on the other hand, you believe the above statements to be within your own control, then you realize that there are things you can do to create your own destiny and maybe, just maybe, fulfill your own dreams. OUT GOES NATURE AND IN COMES BELIEF Are we simply robots that have been programmed to do certain things over the course of a lifetime or are we living and breathing beings who are an accumulation of our experiences. The moment we are born, we all begin having experiences that make us who we are. These experiences tend to be positive and negative and it becomes up to us to determine who we really are based on all those experiences. In other words, our destiny is based on our experiences, but more importantly, what we each do with them. I often think of the negative experiences we have that seem to control us. The thing is, these negative experiences were not really meant to be negative, but were meant to be teaching experiences. Think of all the times you were told "you can't do that" while growing up like,"you can't talk to strangers", or "you can't talk unless spoken to", or "you can't get out of line" or "you can't be successful at that". All our lives we are told what we can't do and when we get to a time in our life when we have some control over things, we still believe we can't do certain things. "I can't build a business." "I can't talk to strangers about a business opportunity." I can't get involved in something that isn't a job." I know I can't be successful at this kind of stuff." The "I can't" statements go on and on and we really believe we can't when we really can. OUR BELIEF SYSTEM CONTROLS OUR DESTINY Being successful in building a home-based business has very little to do with our nature. It has everything to do with what we believe we can do. OUR BELIEF SYSTEM CONTROLS OUR DESTINY! When it comes to building a home-based business via network marketing, do you REALLY believe in network marketing as a way to build a business organization? Do you REALLY believe in the company you are a distributor for? Do you REALLY believe in the products your represent? Do you REALLY believe in the pay plan? Do you REALLY believe in yourself? Guess what? If you don't believe in yourself, then belief in the industry, the company, the products and the pay plan won't matter. Success in building a home-based business first starts with a belief in your self, a true belief that "I CAN" rather than "I can't." Once you believe you can then you will find ways to make your business work for you. HOW TO FEED AND BOOST UP YOUR BELIEF SYSTEM The good news is, since you do have control over your destiny. There are certain things you can do to feed and boost up your belief system. The bad news is, it doesn't come naturally. You will have to work at it. The first thing you can do is become educated about all the factors that make up your belief system. Learn about the network marketing industry. Get the hypeless truth about how network marketing really works . . . the pros and cons . . . the dos and don't . . . the ups and downs. Feel free to read other articles provided by "The Masternetworker." Archived articles can be found at http://www.masternetworker.com Know and understand that network marketing IS THE way to become financially independent. I would like to recommend you listen to an audio tape called "Escape The Rat Race" by Randy Gage. Randy does an excellent job, with humor and facts, to explain network marketing and to tell you about what 90% of the people do daily and how much they hate it, but they keep doing it! You'll laugh and then be amazed at what Randy says.. Hmmmm, could it be Randy is talking about that nature of people? >grin> You can get this tape online, but you will pay approximately $7.00 for a single tape. I have made special arrangements with Prime Concepts so that I can sell you this tape for only $3.00 and that includes shipping to you. I WANT you to listen to this tape! Find out if you are one of the people Randy talks about in his "Escape The Rat Race" tape. You can order this tape directly from me by requesting such and sending $3.00 to JAN-L Marketing, Inc., 12004 Parkland Ct., Louisville, KY 40243 or you can send me $3.00 via Pay Pal. Send it to bykotaim@ix.netcom.com. Additionally, I would like to suggest that it is possible that you just may not be cut-out for your own home-based business. I've found nice crucial factors that are responsible for determining a person's success in their own home-based business. I'm amazed at the number of people who jump into their first home-based business without knowing if they even have what it takes to be successful in it. If you haven't already, take my "Are you cut-out for your own home-based business" self assessment. In less than three minutes, you can find out your own potential home-based business success rate and what to do with it. Go to http://www.homebizquiz.net Become knowledgeable to the point that you are expert about the company you represent as well as the products your representative company offers and the pay plan of the company you are a distributor for. If the company you are a distributor for has regional meetings or annual conventions, go to them. They are usually a source of belief building as well as information giving. Additionally, interacting with other people similar to you is so valuable toward boosting your business-building belief system. Some companies offer phone conferences as ways to disperse information and to train their distributors. Be sure you are involved in those phone conferences. They are also a source of motivation and will definitely boost your belief system. You must try and use the products the company distributes. You can't expect others to try and use products if you don't lead by example. You will never believe in what you are doing unless you believe in the products you represent. Become an expert about the type products you have and become an expert about each and every product that is available. I have found that when people know nothing or little about the products their representative company has, then their belief system is massively affected. Boosting your belief system by becoming knowledgeable about the industry, company, products and pay plan are what I call, "external "belief system" beliefs." Although these are important and necessary, the real success of building your home-based system is belief in yourself. This is the foundation of what you do and without a strong belief in yourself, you will be building your belief system on sand rather than solid rock. Boosting your belief in yourself takes more work and beyond that, it takes consistent and persistent work. Did you know it takes approximately ten positive events to overcome one negative event? That is, if you don't have a strong belief in yourself. The thing is, it is not realistic to think we can expect to have ten positive events for every negative event. We can't really control that, but what we can control is how we react to such. That is where our belief in ourself comes in. You see, when we have a strong belief in ourself, it is easier to overcome the negative events we are certainly going to have and our attitude becomes such to help us immune ourselves from the negative events that will come our way. I'm sure you've heard, "your attitude determines your altitude. One of the best ways to work on your own belief system is by listening to motivational tapes. There are excellent motivational tapes available both within the network marketing industry and outside the network marketing industry. Of course, Zig Ziegler comes to mind first. Tony Robbins is well known in this area. (); Randy Gage () . A personal and local friend of mine is Doug Firebaugh and has an extensive website regarding motivation and self improvement. If possible, start each day by listening to a motivational tape, if not daily, certainly weekly. Without it, it just may be your nature to drift back into a "no belief" frame of mind. Do you want to know the real secret of the 10% of the people who are successful in network marketing? They MAKE themselves successful. They don't rely on ready-made systems! They don't rely on others! They do whatever it takes to be successful. They come up with their own strategies based on goals, desire, education and their own belief system. They really ARE in control of their own destiny! I have one last comment. Surround yourself with like-minded positive thinking people. Unless you immunize yourself from negativity, the negativity of others, who surround you, will pull you down in a very short time and you will begin to have doubts and will affect your progress. Self belief requires work on a regular basis and once we stop working on ourselves, perhaps our "nature" takes over. You have the power! You ARE in control of your own destiny! Lon Lindsey Business Marketing Specialist Publisher The Masternetworker http://www.masternetworker.com