Oh Yeah? Go Build Your Own Mousetrap!
Are you in a home business now, or still just testing the waters? Either way, one of the things it takes to be successful is the ability to avoid building your own mousetrap.
Those of you who are already working in network marketing probably know what I'm talking about. Chances are you are working with a supplier company that has great products and/or services. Chances are also good that you have a system that was put together by a leading distributor within the company, who had success with it and is now bringing it to the masses.
Chances are also good that you're not making the kind of money you want, or aren't making any money at all.
Sorry...didn't mean to throw cold water on your home business dreams. It's certainly possible to make great money working from home. Lots of people are!
I'm just using the statistics. Most people in home businesses love what they're doing and have a lot of confidence that someday they will break through and make the kind of big bucks they see other people making. And those who stick around long enough inevitably will.
But statisically, there's about a 90% drop out rate in the first year for people who start their home businesses. Why is that? Does the industry not work? Does it promise more than it can deliver? Are the costs too much?
None of the above. For some people...actually most...it's a matter of not following through on what you've been taught. One of the leaders within our company calls it being willing to "submit to the mentoiring process."
In other words, here's the system. Do Step A, then do Step B. Take it all the way to Step G or H or whatever. Lots of people aren't willing to be held accountable to all these steps, so they just assume the business isn't for them, and go back to whatever life situation they started with.
We let these people go. They're great people, but it's like trying to teach Chinese to a house plant. At some point they might get it, but who wants to put that kind of time in!
Some are just too uncomfortable with the things they'll need to do, which usually means they don't want to talk to anyone...friends, relatives, strangers, whatever. We let them go too. If it were so simple that you didn't need to talk to anyone, what would they need YOU for?
And then there is that special group who insist on building a better mousetrap. Here's a system for finding interested people, promoting your product or service, training new people, managing your business, etc. It's not perfect, there's room for improvement.
But heck, it works! It may be why you're here now!
The folks who are a little too smart for their own good will start tinkering with it, or even try to build their own thing. And what do they get for their troubles? Total confusion with no one to help them...because no one else is doing what they're doing.
Hey, I've got my newsletters. I've got my conference calls. I love playing around with my own things!
But if you're in our business organization, it's because we use the system EXACTLY the way it's supposed to be used. The simpler, the better. I didn't create the system...I just use it.
It's the old Subway restaurant example. If something works in Subway...even if it's not perfect...would you want to change it on your own, or would you want the people who've been working on the system forever to try and fix it?
Even better, if you owned 30 Subways, would you want to mess with the system so that NONE of the managers knew what to do?
Or would you want to standardize everything so that ANYONE who could follow directions could do it?
That's why the fast food industry in this country is run by 16 and 17 year olds who flunked Algebra 1 and English, but still manage to turn a profit in their restaurants. Simplicity, simplicity!
Some of the people I've seen who move the slowest in home businesses are the smartest people, because they spend all their time questioning the system.
I don't blame them...most of them got successful in the outside world because they checked things out and improved the things they work on.
And they can do the same in this business. They can build a better mousetrap...
...once they've STUDIED the industry throroughly. What makes this business tick is unlike the things that work in the rest of the world...
...and once they've gotten SUCCESSFUL in this business. Are you a leader? Show me your own success!
...and once they've HELPED OTHERS get successful. What works for you only matters if you can easily show others how to do the same thing!
So whether you're in business or thinking about it, COPY what the successful people are doing, and stay the course.
Or go ahead and try building your own mousetrap. If you do, the only thing you'll catch is mice!
Larry Hochman, M.S., C.A.G.S. is "The Guidance Guy" and the author of NINE SECRETS TO COLLEGE AND CAREER SUCCESS. He has published widely on education, personal development and home business. Visit Larry at www.TheGuidanceGuy.com
