In many ways network marketing is like farming. You must plant the seeds before you can harvest. Then, it takes a while for the seeds to grow. If properly cultivated and cared for, with just the right amount of rain and sunshine, there will be a harvest.
Ask any farmer, and they’ll tell you that it can be a difficult life, but it can also be a great one. One can never plan for crop failure due to drought or too much rain. Even the economy can effect farming. In bad years, the farmer may have to work a second job to keep food on the table.
The farmer requires the same work ethic that network marketers require. Many new to network marketing learn quickly that it isn't easy. Like farming, you have to plant seeds before you can harvest. The seeds take time to grow.
Even a certain amount of faith is required. If you don't expect the seed to grow to harvest, it likely will not. You spread the seed, expecting it to harvest. You really don’t know if or when it will happen, but you must continue the process.
Like other network marketers, I had to go through the seeding and weeding process. Many people believe they can go straight from seed to harvest. That doesn’t work in network marketing any more than it does in farming. You and everyone you sponsor in your organization must go through a growth process.
Your prospects and/or new team members must have enough faith in you (seed) to even begin the process. Once they begin to learn, you and they must take action (cultivation). Finally, your new team member - if you've weeded well - will begin to follow your instructions and start to duplicate what you have done (harvest).
Another way to look at the “seeding” is relationship-building, through your blog, forum posts, etc. You plant a seed that sometimes, but not always, grows. As the relationship grows, the seeds too may begin to grow, and eventually, you have developed a “good prospect.”
With blogs and forums, you cannot go out with the intention of growing prospects, or the process will likely fail. With the wrong purpose – growing prospects – you are simply advertising. Whereas if your intent is to truly grow relationships, a happy “side effect” is that sometimes, prospects will develop.
Network Marketing cannot be all about the money. It must be about people. Build relationships, help develop people into leaders; then the people will build their own businesses, resulting in the growth of your own.
A successful network marketer is constantly growing and becoming the person they were meant to be. Along the way, they are helping others grow into leaders.
