Are you open-minded or close-minded when duplicating your companies systems?
“The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind” ~ E.B. White
As network marketers a lot of us duplicate what our upline tells us with a closed mind. We let ourselves get so conditioned to the point that we believe their strategies are the only strategies in the world that will work to achieve success.
Now most of us have been taught to not do what works, but do what duplicates which is true. If you’re extroverted and a social butterfly, what works for you will definitely not work for someone that’s more introverted.
When you go to trainings and conventions, you’re told to duplicate their system and to be leaders, but yet can you actually say that you’re a leader?
Do you allow yourself to think outside the box once you duplicate their systems?
Since you’re focused on your company, can you honestly say that you actually tried other strategies and added the ones that work for you to your arsenal to expand your business?
Not to say to overwhelm yourself with a lot of strategies, but what if another strategy gives you better results than the current one you’re using?
If that’s the case, then by being closed minded you will definitely miss a lot in a shorter amount of time to achieve your goals, right?
In a 3 part series I wrote about the 3 foundational qualities of being a leader. One of those qualities is that you want to be HONE-ABLE which mean that you want to keep leaving room for growth, sharpening your skills, and having an open mind. 
Not having an open mind is the one reason why a lot of network marketer’s businesses do not grow.
There are a lot of companies and teams who do you like the fact that you think “outside of the box” and want to hinder you from being successful which is really sad. If this is something that you’re a part of, then maybe it’s time to look elsewhere so that you can actually take the venture of being a true leader and achieving success.
In conclusion, the System of every MLM Company is the foundation of your marketing venture, but its up to you if you want to build from it.
TO YOUR SUCCESS!!!
Follow Me On Twitter – Follow Sherman Here
Join My Facebook Fan Page – Sherman’s Fan Page
Want To Work With Me? – Work With Sherman
Gift For YOU —-> Do you want a step by step blueprint to follow to grow your business? CLICK HERE for more info.
Tags: free mlm leads, mlm marketing system, mlm prospecting, mlm systems, network marketing system
-
My upline told me I was uncoachable after I went through my warm circle of family and friends and alienated most of them. I decided to swith companies because I followed her instructions to the letter and all she told me was it was all my fault I didn’t succeed. I wanted to try branding myself and network marketing, she wanted me to use the generic website. Today I am blogging, building my own website, working with a new company I’m very excited about, and, yes, following my upline’s instructions.
-
Hey Gina, that’s great to hear! Makes you wonder how well your upline from your old company is doing. I’m thinking not so well. Thanks for stopping by!
-
-
Hey Sherman, Nice piece your all to right if your not open to learning new things for your business or for life in general you leave no room for growth.
If your up line is telling you not to try new things then you should probably take a real long look at them and how well they are really doing in their business.
One of the first things I was told by my sponsor and coach was to always be open to learning something new it has proven to be very useful advice.
Great post thanks for sharing it.
Ed.-
Hey Ed, one of the characteristic of true leadership is to be open to learn something new and you already see how useful that is! Thanks for stop by!
-
-
I stepped out of the proverbial box as well and it feels great! I’m meeting and connecting with lots more people and I feel like I’m working my business daily instead of leaving hundreds of messages that never get returned and having my friends avoid me like the plague!
-
Hey Janelle, it’s great to hear that! Thanks for stopping by!
-
-
Gina & Sherman
I have similar thoughts and experiences. I have worked the ‘system’ of meetings and warm market burnout before and failed for lots of different reasons but see such fantastic and unique products with PrePaid that I know it is possible to build this business through the internet.
I will continue to build the foundation necessary to get it rolling and reproducible.
-
Thanks Jeff for sharing your experience. You can definitely build any home business through the internet. Thanks for stopping by!
-
-
Sherman,
Great reminder on being open minded and thinking outside the box. Isn’t that was being an entrepreneur is all about?
BTW… Love the sorry mind close until further notice pic. I think it fits your post perfectly…
Keep cranking out the killer business building tips
-
Hey Jesse,
Thanks for your compliment and for stopping by. I hope your having a great memorial day!!!!
-
-
Great Article!! I use to be one of those people that did what I was told like I did not have a mind of my own. Because everytime I thought of something else to try, I would be told if I wanted to succeed I had to do it their way. After years of failure and frustration, I decided to try things without telling them. What ended up happening is that I was able to be open-minded enough to find out why I was not suppose to go outside of the realm of the company training. I eventually found a company that let me explore and find out ways that worked for me and TA-DA success!! Thank you for sharing.
-
Hey Darlene,
You are definitely a prime example of the point I was getting across here. Thanks for the value by sharing your story!!! Take Care!!!
-
-
Sherman-
I agree with you 100%, but I also have another perspective as well. As an upline, it’s my duty to provide a system the best way I know how, as an option for my team to plug into. They can either use it, or not use it as they see fit.But, if they choose to explore other methods of building a business, it’s not my responsibility to stop what I’m doing with the rest of my team, and go in a completely different direction to make it happen for that one rep.
I can provide tools, training and guidance, but at the end of the day, if they want to learn a new way to build their business, the ball is in their court to learn it, master it, have success with it, and then bring it back to the team to see how we can scale it and implement it.
I’ve seen far too many examples of people who want to go off and do their own thing, but then STILL blame their upline for their business not working, and I just don’t believe that a person can have it both ways.
Excellent post Sherman!
-
Hey Jamie,
That’s great that you allow the freedom for you that are in your downline to duplicate with an open mind and explore other strategies. But for others, they seem to put a restriction on what their downline can do. I believe as long as you follow the “blueprint” of the system that allows you to use other strategies in correspondence, then definitely you can get great results. Many people do blame their upline for not achieving success in the company whether they follow the system or not. This is why Jim Rohn said to work harder on yourself than you do your business. Thanks for your comment and for stopping by!!!
-
Jamie – concur with your point of view on the responsibility of the upline. They only can teach what they know.
When others fail, they will generally seek to blame someone else and obviously the upline is a handy target.
Those who choose to build through other means, it is a matter of finding what works for them and using the pieces that can be assimilated from other systems.
In reading through Jeff Olsen’s “Slight Edge,” one of the key points that is often missed is that he build a system he could duplicate and he found the people to duplicate it with. The key factor he used was that small actions practiced daily will make a difference in the long run. Results may be slow coming and adjustments will be required along the way, but they will come when we persist without exception.
In my case I continue to persist, sometimes it is a new system, sometimes it is a new product, but always the goal is the same – to build a business.
-
Hey Jeff,
Thanks for sharing your valuable content. As a matter of fact my next post is going to be about blame. I can tell that you are a solder when it comes to this industry for that fact you mentioned you continue to persist no matter what company or product you get involved with!
-
-
-
I do believe that one should learn 1st in order to be able to think out of the box. Great article Sherman.
-
Definitely! Thanks for stopping by!
-
-
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Sherman. When I was in the teaching profession, the one size fits all model did not work. Everyone had their own apporoach to learning and they all learned at a different pace. Some were faster than others and some were slower. But the important thing was that they all learned! Patience, understanding and nurturing are the paramount qualities of a good upline and the key to a successful downline.
Brian Kerns
-
I couldn’t agree with you more Brian. Thanks for your valuable comment and for stopping by!
-
-
Thanks for the great post Sherman – I think it’s important to focus on what works AND duplicates… lead by example so to speak. If that’s what our up line taught us great… if not… so be it.
Over and above this if we want to do some more advanced marketing that’s fine; keep it low key… just don’t complicate things for new people… they’ll just quit because it all got too hard :0|
-
I totally agree with you on keeping it simple following the system for newbies while you keep your marketing strategy low key. Our goal is to find leaders and help in the process of a follower turning into a leader. Thanks for your valuable comment Anne!
-
-
Hi Sherman,
You’re absolutely right, one system doesn’t fit all. You have to use what works for you or you’ll never grow your business.
Always love your wisdom.
Have a great week!
Ilka
-
How true it is that we start idolizing our sponsors instead of nurturing creativity. I think oftentimes we forget that when we join a MLM, we become business owners in our own right and we must start thinking as independent business owners. Instead we become dependent on our sponsor’s training and direction and fail to think outside the box. Thanks for breaking us out of this stupor, Sherman.
-
Hey Getzie, Thanks for your valuable comment. We all tend to put our upline on a pedestal which definitely isn’t wrong with that. We want to be able to reach the same goals as they have. But at the same time, as you mentioned, we need to be thinking like independent business owners, follow the system, be open-minded, and use our creative side to utilize what will work for us.
-
-
Woe Sherman, this is an article that I really needed. The inner voice that guides us is always whispering the right answers but we have been conditioned not to pay attention to it. Nothing remains static, everything flows. So we better go with the flow, keep growing and chaging. Keep on Rockin’!
Luis Toro
“Live In The NOW”-
You got that right Luis!! Thanks for stopping by and adding your valuable comment
-
-
Sherman, I totally agree with your thinking. There are certainly more benefits to thinking outside the box than there is to follow a system that doesn’t work for your personality. This is why so many network marketers fail! You can’t always believe that what your upline said is gold. I would be so bold as to even tell the person to evaluate the success of their upline to see if what they are saying is working for them. In many cases, it’s not because they are only following what their upline told them. We have to break the string of broken systems and think outside the box. Great post!
-
Hey Octavia, thanks for your valuable comment. You definitely should be able to think outside of the box if this is your “own” business. If you’re going to be a true leader, use the duplicatable system, but also based on the system find something that works for you.
-
-
Hey Sherman,
I definitely believe that sometimes we have to move away from the shadows of the gurus and carve a path for ourselves.
I have never really been someone who hides under people and though I have seen some disadvantages, I know that is the way to go especially when you have taken the time to learn the fundamentals.
I see too many people doing the same things with no one standing out, and while they expect to get REAL results, I dont see how that is possible Sherman.
We got to be honeable and take the time to think outside the box, or we’d remain stagnant.
Thanks!
~Tosin -
Hey Tosin,
Thanks for sharing your valuable insight on this subject. It’s a pretty touchy subject but so many of us are conditioned and don’t allow ourselves to use our imagination to become true leaders.
It’s great to have a duplicatable system, but I believe that no one should limit themselves of their capabilities. That’s true leadership and we definitely could be honeable at leaders.
Thanks for stopping by and I always look forward to your comments
Sherman
-
Excellent post,Sherman! I always learn something new at your blog! Thanks for taking the time to share.
Jonathan R McGowan recently posted..Network Marketing The Power Of No Goals
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
StumbleUpon
FriendFeed
LinkedIn
32 comments
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link: http://www.shermansmithblog.com/2011/05/29/are-you-open-minded-or-are-you-conditioned/trackback/