The other day I was perusing some publicly posted resumes online and noticed an intriguing pattern emerge.
Every other posting had a line somewhere in the text that read something to the effect of, “And please…no scams!”
Now because of the work I do as a professional Network Marketer, I knew immediately that these pleas for “no scams” were directed at anyone who has a business opportunity to offer. And that the person who wrote that line has not the foggiest idea of what Network Marketing is or how it could change their life.
I also knew it proved a point that so many of us who have discovered the truth about this line of work know first-hand: Network Marketing is actually the most fair way of doing business in the world when done right.
For anyone in the Network Marketing profession, the word “scam” is heard all too often, and often out of the mouths of the people we love and care about most. For instance, how many times have we heard these questions:
“Is this one of those pyramid things?”
“Is this a scam?
For those of us who understand that Network Marketing is not only a legitimate way of doing business, but also quite noble, these questions always raise our hackles even when we are seasoned professionals. No matter how long we have been with our company, no matter how long we have presented our opportunity to new people, no matter how ethical and wonderful the company we represent is, the odds of someone asking one of these questions remains higher than average.
This is not our fault.
Instead, it merely reflects a lack of education.
Six years ago, I was one of those people saying those very words. I was one of the masses of uneducated. Despite having a Masters Degree in Education (of all things!), I remained ignorant about Network Marketing and had preconceived notions of what this business was about. When a friend introduced me to the company I am currently with, I balked. I may have even told him he was crazy, among some other choice words.
And yet…
Because he was my friend, and because I trusted him, and because when I tried the product samples he gave me and they worked, I was intrigued enough to take the next step and see what this company and Network Marketing thingy were all about.
I became a student.
I read.
And I read some more.
And I attended company events.
And slowly, methodically, I changed my point of view and discovered how truly incredible Network Marketing is when done the right way, as it was designed to be done.
And I wondered…Where had Network Marketing been my whole life?!
Have there been some unscrupulous Network Marketing companies along the way that have destroyed innocent people’s dreams and years of hard work?
Absolutely.
But there have also been some unscrupulous companies. Companies that have destroyed innocent people’s dreams and years of hard work.
Enron. Lehman Brothers. Arthur Andersen.
Just to name a few.
To me, any person or persons who misuse systems for their own gain and take advantage of trusting people deserve to be called and labeled the nastiest names. Talk about scams! What Bernie Madoff did was a scam. But legitimate Network Marketing companies are about as far from scams as football is to hopscotch. I mean, seriously? Whenever anyone ignorantly calls this business model a scam, we need to — gently — set the record straight, for our own dignity as well as for the dignity of all the companies doing things right.
As Network Marketers, we are obligated to uphold the integrity of this method of doing business so that future generations can continue to enjoy the bounty it can bring to so many lives. We are obligated to teach people who misunderstand or just plain don’t get Network Marketing, not so they join us in business per se, but because doing so raises the credibility and reputation of what we are so passionate about.
No one else is going to do it for us. It is up to us to educate so that in time, the word “scam” will no longer be heard in the same sentence as Network Marketing.
Below is a terrific explanation of Network Marketing by one of my favorite people, Tim Sales. For anyone — both new and seasoned alike — Tim offers some of the best basic training anywhere.
Onward!
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