Build with Purpose and Design

This is one of those Network Marketing catch phrases that can leave people wondering what was actually said. Then we heard right after that, “Treat this like a business, and you’ll get make money. Treat this like a hobby, and you’ll spend money”. Most people that get involved with Network Marketing have probably never owned a business, are working for someone else and looking to either supplement their income or get out of their job altogether. Consequently, while they may have a hobby or two, they may not know the first thing about starting or running a business.

As a contractor, I was already running a business when I first looked at Network Marketing. Understandably the statement “Build with Purpose and Design” made perfect sense to me as the first thing I had to do in my contracting business was write down what it was I wanted to do and become licensed in that area. I then made a rough business plan outlining what I would need for equipment, personnel, bookkeeping and I outlined a cost/profit structure.

I followed pretty much the same outline when I began my Network Marketing business. I looked at how much time and money I could spend on my new business. Then I wrote down what I wanted to earn and I looked into the compensation plan to see what it would take to earn that. For example (I’m going to be leaving out abbreviations and go with straight numbers here.) let’s say you want to make about $500 a month and you earn 5% of your volume without factoring in bonuses. That means you will need to have a volume of at least 10,000 a month. For the sake of ease we’ll say each unit equals 100 so that would mean you would need 100 people on auto-ship in your downline to earn $500 a month.

Your purpose is to now build a downline of 100 people and earn $500 a month. Sound daunting? Not so! Let’s break it down and design a plan. Divide 100 by 5 to get 20 and we’ll call that Level 2. Here it looks like you have to find 20 people to join you and help them find 5 people to join them. Still looks challenging to me. So let’s divide 20 by 5 to get 4 and we’ll call that level 1. Here it looks a little more promising; you need to find 4 who will find 5 to join them and those 20 will each find 5 to join them, and voila! You have your 100 people. To hedge the outcome a little in your favor, let’s say in your level 1 you place 5 people instead of 4. That would give you 125 people or 25% more than you need to make your goal of $500 a month and you’ve only built down 2 levels. Without thinking too far ahead, just imagine what’s going to happen as your organization grows to 3, 4, 5 levels and more!

This is not unfeasible; it’s being done every day by people who have never run a business before in their lives. If you can write down a grocery list, if you can write down a to do list, you can write out your purpose and then craft a design to support that purpose. You definitely don’t want to stress out over time and money so plan your expenditures and time to support your design. The key is to follow it consistently. If you have trouble with time or money, adjust your design – but don’t forget your purpose! Once you have gotten the hang of this, it will become second nature, and you’ll be able to teach it to your down line which will increase your business bottom line exponentially.