On Wednesday 02 April 2008, tpm782001 wrote:
> First time post for me. I hope I'm doing this right.
You are. Thank you for posting. Please do not take my disagreement
with some of your points personally and influence you to not post in
the future. This is a forum and it helps us to discuss and debate
these things so we see it from all angles. Going back and forth on
different topics is an important way to pick out what's good about your
view and mine so we can take the best of each part.
> My first involvement in MLM was with Amway. I was in college, and my
> upline was my Mom. I thought, at the time, "If I'm not successful in
> college, at least I have Amway."
>
> I soon realized that Amway was not the path for me. And soon enough
> your son will also. While undergrad work is, at times, boring and
> unfruitful, I would think that one question will help him see the
> light.
>
> Ask him if he is making a 30% return on his money. It's a simple
> question and the one that most successful business owners know by
> heart. If you're not making 30%, then you are not in a successful
> business venture.
Interesting. I never heard that rule, but then again, my actual
financial investment in my company has been quite low. I just had to
put together a few computers and start programming. Then, about 3-4
years later, buy parts to make 2-3 new computers and besides some
technical references, that's about it. The rest is my paycheck.
> I was once part of Nexgen. They went out of business because, from
> what I hear, their sole monetary income was from new recruits. Ask
> him how he makes money. And tell him that a true business venture
> makes money immediately. Otherwise your expenses far exceed your
> profit, and you lose in the end.
Not true. Many times a business can take a year or more before it
starts making a profit. On the other hand, a "real" business includes
a business plan. You can map out what your expenses will be and
actually plan it out over several years so you know you'll need certain
equipment and have to pay certain expenses and you can look at what is
coming in and compare it to your plan and see if you're making too
little to make it work.
An important point here: QUITTERS WIN!
Okay, not all quitters, but I am running my own business now because I
knew when to quit what wasn't working and refocus on what was. The
MLMers will say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results. They use that to refer to going to a 9-5
job, but it applies to MLMs as well.
> Don't, however, stifle his entrepreneurship. It is a gift. Just let
> him know that he needs to focus his energies on profit. If he spends
> 600 bucks, he might as well buy a jet ski (or something else) that
> he can sell for 900 bucks within the week. That's a business.
It's important to be aware of the difference between this and actual
entrepreneurial work. Remember, a setup like AW/QS plays to people's
desires to be the big cheese without giving them the responsibilities
someone in charge has. They tell you that you own your own business,
but they own it in reality. They say you're independent, but your
upline tells you what to do, how to speak, how to act, what to wear,
and so on. They use the term IBO, but it's not a real business (does
not pay taxes, have it's on existence on paper as a separate entity),
it's not independent and the person "running" it doesn't own a damn
thing. (There have been many examples of the upline taking a business
from the downline if it's working well.)
I can make my point best with an example. A long time ago I used to
subscribe to Writer's Digest and after a few issues, I realized that
most of what it said was stuff I had figured out or knew and the reason
I kept up my subscription was because of one column by a screenwriter I
deeply respected. I dropped my subscription when he stopped writing
for them.
Later I was reading a story somewhere on targeting your market. The
author had asked a group, "What is the market for Writer's Digest?" A
would-be editor said, "Writers!" and the response was, "No, it's for
people that think they're writers or who want to be writers. People
who are writers don't need it." (Other than for getting Writer's
Market when it comes out, that is.)
It's a subtle but important point. It's for people that think they're
writers and like the "lifestyle." They like having nice pens or a
special pen to write with and being able to cultivate habits associated
with a writer, but it's not for actual writers who are at their
keyboards pounding out work and dealing with editors to get their work
published so they can make a living at it.
Can you see where this is leading? An MLM like AW/QS is not always for
true entrepreneurs (boy do I hate typing and trying to spell that
word!). It is for people who want to be entrepreneurs, people who want
to say, "I own my own business," or people who want to feel important
by handing out their own business cards and such. I admit, when I
started, it was a thrill to do that, but now I tend to downplay it --
especially on dating occasions since I've noticed the words "my own
business" can trigger responses in gold diggers that make them seem
interested in parts of my life that mean a lot to me that they don't
care for.
It may be that this young man has a true entrepreneurial spirit, but I'm
not so sure. Such people want to be independent. They are often the
ones that don't do well in groups that demand conformity. I know if I,
or my friends that run their own businesses, tried QS, we'd be trying
to debate and argue from the beginning about if other ways might
work -- not out of stubbornness, but out of a need or drive to explore
and see what works.
> Let him mature to a true businessman. It could reap rewards in the
> long run. For now, show him how much he has lost, and then show him
> a better way.
And remember to show him with questions. If I tell you a fact, you can
dispute it, if you learn it or discover it on your own, you know it's
true.
Hal
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