The Most Important Business Lesson I Ever Learned

My tenure in network marketing has been all about learning. As an entrepreneur, your primary duty is to become a student, and remain one for the rest of your life. It’s the only way you’re going to get better.

If you wanted to become a successful professional golfer, your time would be spent on the driving range and on the course, fine-tuning your swing and mentally preparing yourself for competitive play. You would gain knowledge, learn from your mistakes, and practice until you reached a level where you could compete.

In business, it’s no different. Each day, you must learn something new and apply it to your craft. Don’t expect EVERYTHING to work the first time you try it. It’s a healthy business practice to try new things. And if they don’t work, fine-tune them until they do. In order to be successful in business, just as in any other endeavor, you must practice until you reach a level where success can be obtained.

It’s all about giving yourself the education you deserve.

In my studies, I’ve absorbed some outstanding knowledge that I put to use every single day. Mental preparation, self-organization, networking, leadership, accountability, and goal-setting are just a few traits I’ve been able to improve upon and develop daily.

When it comes to marketing, I came across one quote that completely changed the way I did business. It comes from the great Perry Marshall, and it goes as follows:

“Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes – NOT information about drills!”

When I found myself struggling and wonder why I couldn’t find success in my MLM opportunity, that one quote opened my eyes. If you’re struggling to find network marketing success, re-read that quote, and think about how you’ve been building your business.

Old-school MLM techniques tell new distributors to make a list of 100 people they know, hold parties at their homes and hotels, talk to everyone in a 3-foot radius, hand out CDs, DVDs, and magazines, and buy outdated leads and cold-call them until you’re blue in the face.

Newer MLM techniques revolve around Pay-per-Click advertising, social media, articles, press releases, search engine optimization, banners, videos, and more.

The method you choose to market your business is irrelevant if you’re advertising the drill instead of the hole. Because the likelihood is, when you put these techniques into action, you’re not pushing the right buttons with the people you speak to.

People don’t buy a drill because they want a drill. They buy a drill because they want a hole.

Comparatively, people don’t join a network marketing opportunity because they want a network marketing opportunity. They join because they want a means to an end. They want to make money. They want to leave their job and work from home. They want to stop trading their time for wages. They want a better quality of life for themselves and their families.

There are hundreds of reasons why someone will join you and your opportunity. It’s all relative to your prospect’s goals. But if you’re only taking the time to shove your business in their face and not digging deep enough to find out WHY your opportunity would be beneficial to them, you’ll never discover what those goals are, and you’ll continue to spin your wheels.