At the risk of stating the obvious, in order to build business, you need to work at it. It amazes me how often I come across distributors who do nothing or very little work, but somehow expect to make money! We call our business "network marketing", not "notwork marketing". 

You are probably aware of the 3 main, distinct areas of our business, each with their own skill set. There is some overlap in these skill sets, but let's take a look at some of the things we can learn to grow our businesses and increase the rate of growth.

Every new distributor needs to start by creating a retail business. If you have been in the business for a while and don't have regular retail customers, it is time for you to re-focus on this part of your business. Selling product is the whole purpose of MLM, not just recruiting, as important as it is for our businesses. I was recently asked  by someone how much we pay distributors for each new recruit. Well, any MLM company that pays their distributors for recruiting, should be avoided at all costs, no matter how much money and potential earnings they predict for you, because this amounts to being a Ponzie scheme or that dreaded pyramid scheme which many uninformed people accuse us of being involved in. Remember, the ultimate goal of the company and every distributor, is to sell as much product as we can. Our bonuses are based on how much product we and our networks move. Don't expect your network to go out and sell up a storm to make you rich, while you concentrate on recruiting as many new slaves as you can. "Do what I say, not what I do" does not work. Lead from the front, learn the skills and increase your income by building a good, strong retail business.

Over the years I have asked many struggling distributors which part of the business they find the most challenging. The almost unanimous answer is "recruiting". It's interesting that most of these distributors don't have much, if any, kind of retail business either. To me this is an indication that they find retailing just as challenging as recruiting, but consider recruiting to be a problem purely on the basis of their fear of recruiting. Recruiting quickly becomes the most fun, enjoyable and fulfilling part of the business for successful distributors. For that to happen, you need to develop the necessary skills, competence and confidence. This is achieved as much in your head as by practical experience. This skill is important not only for your own first level , but is essential in building your second and even third generation of distributors. You have an obligation to teach your distributors how to recruit, and you can't teach what you don't know. It is also good practice to recruit with someone. Recruiting 2 on 1 has many advantages and will increase your success rate significantly.

Recruiting without mentoring your new recruits is going to make it almost impossible for your distributors to succeed. you would have to rely on the off-chance that you will find a self-starter who has all the necessary skills to be successful. There are people like that out there, but you are unlikely to find one who is willing to look at the opportunity you are offering, because they will probably be too busy using all those skills and being successful somewhere else. The rest of the poor souls you recruit and send out there will become cannon fodder to aggressive prospects, rejection, ignorance, lack of skills, and incompetence. It's just not fair.

There is plenty of information available from the company, in books and on the internet about all of these aspects of your business. Remember that this is your business. It needs to be run like a business. It takes effort and tenacity to be successful. All worthwhile careers require you to know what you are doing. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, electricians, plumbers, sales people, all spend time and good money on their education before expecting to be competent and successful at their jobs. MLM is exactly the same. You need to spend time and effort to educate yourself before you can legitimately expect to be successful. Don't just rely on your sponsor to spoon feed you. Learn as much as you can from as many sources as you can, not just your sponsor. I have seen sponsors give bad advice due to their own ignorance or greed or incompetence. Invest time and effort to educate and inform yourself.   The more information you have from various sources, the easier it becomes to sift the good from the bad. There are many techniques and strategies, not all universally suitable for every distributor. The more you learn, the greater the chance of finding what works for you.

Your business will grow no faster than you do. I love this business!