Team MLM – is it so important?

Sometimes people see the typical entrepreneur as someone out there working away on his own. Is ‘team MLM’ really so important? A lot of folk say that ‘if it is to be, it’s up to me’. Does that rule out being a good team player?

Let me tell you how it was for me back when I had a regular business in construction. I wanted to be my own boss; to be answerable only to me; to reap all the rewards for my hard work. I went down the route of being self employed. That is quite a different mindset to that of the entrepreneur.

I wanted to do it all myself. Partly I didn’t trust anyone else to do as good a job as me; partly I didn’t want the responsibility of managing others. That put a big limitation on the type of work I could do and a big ceiling on my earning potential. Of course when I wasn’t on the tools myself, I wasn’t earning. Only now do I see how I limited myself.

If you have found a company to work with that has a proven, duplicateable system, you are fortunate. Not many network marketing companies offer this. The other thing you can do is put something in place yourself. But beware of reinventing the wheel, especially if you are new to the industry. Find experienced distributors to work with and leverage off their experience. You can be innovative further down the line.

Don’t make the team about you. That is an ego driven approach. If you want the limelight, stick to a corporate business where you can have a position and a big office to match it. Remember one of the dreams of the network marketer is to able to take vacations, without dragging along a laptop computer. And what about when you have done a few years really hard work and you want to retire? If your team is about you, it will all collapse and your royalty income will go with it.

Your team must continue to function without you. In addition if you encourage everyone to participate and to support each other, you will foster a great spirit. The old saying ‘The whole is more than the sum of the parts’ is so true. It is rewarding both emotionally and financially when you see leaders emerging and things happening without you.

A great lesson I have learnt from my team leaders is to become a professional pointer. This means that you should not give the impression that you know everything. If new prospects see you as someone who appears to be all-knowing, they can be intimidated, thinking that they will never be able to emulate you. If you are able to admit you don’t know something but you can send them where they can get the information, your position is strengthened. If you have a team system with online training and information resources, you are relieved of a lot of pressure.

Your team is your strength. Nurture it and be part of it without dominating it.

Related posts:

1. Leadership and your team
2. Pre Launch MLM – will this really make you rich?
3. Integrity, honesty, support – are these part of your team culture?
4. How to Build your MLM Team
5. MLM Business Mentoring – putting others first guarantees your success

Tagged as: Dreams, Earning Potential, Entrepreneur, Mlm, Network Marketing Companies, Royalty Income, Team Player