The Tragic Story of Sponsoring Family

After recruiting family, did you find yourself wishing you never told them about your business?

Are you spending more time building their business while neglecting yours?

Let Me Tell You My Story

I learned the hard way about the pitfalls of sponsoring family in 2008 when I recruited one of my very close family members into my business – (I protect the guilty by not revealing names).

Up until that time, I avoided speaking to family members about network marketing when I first got into the business for fear of being rejected. That was a mistake I’ve since corrected, but then was then and now is now.

However, this family member was an exception to the rule during that time of fear and trepidation, because I learned this person was having health issues due to their job. So, I broke down my barriers and sponsored my family member into the business.

I was determined to make this person successful. So, I spent weeks in and weeks out for 3 months building my family member’s business while totally neglecting my own. And it was on the 3rd month, the 5th day of the month, 2008, that I awoke from my stupor only to find my business had faded into the nether regions of network marketers’ nightmares and sheer unrealistic dreams.

Now Don’t Get Me Wrong – –

To those who think this blog post is the magic excuse needed for you not to speak about your business opportunity or products to family or even friends are missing the point of this story by a mile. If you don’t share your network marketing opportunity to your family and friends, you are being selfish to the core, because you’re denying what they may need in their lives to get them out of their dilemma and solve their problems.

You really don’t know what your family and friends may be going through. They may be wishing upon a star that something or someone may come along and give them the hope they need to solve that problem of getting out from under that heavy handed boss, to get them out of that over burdensome debt, to make some extra money to pay for their kids’ college education, to take their family on a vacation, or to buy their spouse that extra something so that they can say “I love you.” How dare you think about not sharing what you have. You have the keys to the kingdom that just might be their redemption for a new life other than in God. Not to share is shameful and wrong.

If you are uncomfortable doing this SIMPLE network marketing sponsoring process with family and friend and other people you know – perhaps you should look for another way to create time and financial freedom. Seriously. Because it DOES NOT get any easier, nor is there a more effective way of building your business fast than this.

However, I Digress – –

Getting back to my story. I realized my income had dropped, my team had all but evaporated into thin air, and I was left with nothing but a shell of what I formally had. Yes, my family member excelled with success, and I was glad. However, at what expense did it cost me?

I woke up from this stupor to realize I created Frankenstein; and it was a doozy of a monster recreating me from owner to slave by becoming my master No matter how you look at it or try to rearrange the puzzle pieces – building a profitable network marketing business is all about having freedom of time and money. And I lost both. This family member was now depending on me for everything, and I was spending hours upon hours building that person’s life of success while ignoring my own.

When I did come to my senses, I had to tell this family member that I know longer could do for this person what this one could do for their self. Of course, in the end, this family member’s success went downhill, because I was the only prop keeping it from tumbling over. And downhill it went when I pulled away, and this tragedy ended up ruining a family relationship by taking away their dreams and hopes.

The Lesson Learned – –

It is critical that a novice or an expert (such be myself) in network marketing recognize the difference between productive activity and ineffectual, time-wasting practices. Here is what you should do from the beginning with all new reps and distributors, no matter whether they be family, friend or just cold market sponsored. You should tell them from the beginning what to expect from you and what not to expect from you.

You should tell them that you will respond to legitimate requests on the part of any and all of your associates to help close a serious prospect. You will encourage when feeling blue, discourage then when needed, and give them resources of what they can research and train on their own.

You should never take the burden on yourself to provide them leads and then recruit for them. You should never take up any mantle that they themselves are able to bear if they choose.

• Practicing management mode is counterproductive for those being managed and those doing the managing.

• We are empowered far less by heredity, luck and circumstances, than by our vision of what we believe is truly possible for ourselves.

• In this business, everyone has the ability to do great things, but those who lean on their uplines for every single thing are usually the ones who fail.

I hope you enjoyed this podcast about sponsoring family members into network marketing and the pitfalls from it.