Network Marketing Success - ‘Ask’ Is the Magic Word

It has been said that experience is a good teacher, but that he wastes his knowledge on old men. I agree with that wholeheartedly.

Right now I am staring at a copy of a small Oxford English-Chinese dictionary, a memento of a business trip to Shanghai. For those of you who don’t know; English is not widely spoken in China, although Shanghai is somewhat of an exception due to its British past. That realisation dawned on me the moment I tried to summon a taxi at Shanghai airport, and I knew that English was not going to be of much use during my sojourn. So my first goal was to find a Starbucks coffee shop within walking distance of my hotel, where the crew would most likely speak some English, and ask for directions to the nearest bookstore so I could get myself a dictionary.

The Starbucks crew was very helpful with their directions, but I failed to find the bookstore and nobody on the street seemed to understand me, so I went back to Starbucks. This time I got myself some written directions in Mandarin. By approaching some friendly-looking pedestrians for directions I eventually located the bookstore, only to find that the staff there could not speak English either!

I returned to Starbucks a second time, this time obtaining a scrap of paper explaining, in Mandarin, that I wanted a dictionary. I back-tracked all the way to the bookstore. Success at last! An amusing experience, but so relevant to network marketing. The moral of the story? Don’t be afraid to ask!

If you are a ‘newbie’ in network marketing there is so much you don’t know. Most new marketers experience a type of sensory overload in the beginning. However, instead of asking for help, they have this notion of doing everything by themselves. How silly! This approach is not very time-efficient and your time is limited.

I am not suggesting that you never put up a fight if confronted with a challenge. This is still your business. If you want to become financially free, it’s only fair that you put in some sweat equity. But please – there is so much assistance available! Let me give you a few pointers based on personal experience:

- Use the search engines to find information. In this context Google really is your friend. Simply type in the question the way you would put it when asking someone in person! Recently I needed a formula related to wireless transmission. After typing in my question, Google referred me to the exact location in a textbook that I wrote some years ago!

- Buy as many relevant {e-books and training courses} as you can. Knowledge will require some financial expenditure, but ignorance is even worse. Before the days of the Internet, I took a year-long sabbatical and studied for an MBA, because it was advantageous for my career at that time. A 37-dollar e-book, by comparision, is virtually free. If you are unsure about what software to buy, ask your upline. Or ask me!

- Participate in forums, for example BetterNetworker.com. Put your questions and concerns out there to the members of the community. Be assured that your problems are not unique.

- Ensure that your service providers (e.g. web hosting providers) have proper (24/7) help desks and make use of them liberally. That’s what you are paying them for.

I could go on and on but I think you ‘get my drift’. Every conceivable network marketing problem you could have has already been solved. There are thousands of people that have already attained some network marketing success or technical expertise and are more than willing to help. You just have to invoke that magic little three-letter word: a-s-k.

If that network marketing success that you are working towards is still a little out-of-reach, or you need some help with some aspect of your marketing, just ASK me. Marketing is my ‘career’, not my ‘hobby’.