Yea…I'm doing some serious fear mongering here. In fact…I hope I scare the living daylights out of you!
WHY? Because you may be on the verge of a complete and total network marketing disaster if you don't heed this warning.
No…I'm not joking, and YES, I hope this catches your attention and makes you ACT!
Let's talk about avoiding a complete and utter network marketing disaster in your business. What am I talking about exactly?
You have insurance to cover your car, your house and your health. The reason you have that insurance is to protect your assets and save you from financial ruin if something were to happen. The objective is that in case of a serious emergency, you can mitigate or minimize financial losses. It's why we have insurance.
And…while there is no Network Marketing Disaster Insurance that you can go buy off the shelf or from some insurance agent, there are certainly things that you can do to insure the well-being of your business and the assets that are most important to you.
This post is motivated by a recurring theme I continue to see in the network marketing profession, stemming mostly from Social Media Marketing. And…it caused me to do a call about it last night on my Fearless Networker Monday Night Training Call I do every week for the entire network marketing profession.
Let's face it, people always follow the path of least resistance. It's what we do. So, many people have begun to heavily lean on building and supporting their network marketing organizations through Social Media…many of them exclusively. Well…that's a big, fat, giant MISTAKE.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again.
You cannot build your dream house on rented land.
What's that mean? Simple. You don't rely 100% on a totally free tool to grow, drive and support your business, without have some type of INSURANCE plan.
Think I'm stupid or being ridiculous? Fine…then keep relying on it 100% to your own demise.
Last week a friend calls me. Here Facebook page was shut down. No reason. No recourse. Down. Gone.
Monday morning I woke up to one of the most prolific marketers I know who lost his Instagram account. Poof. Toast. Gone. No more.
These tools are FREE and we should treat them as such. Yes…use them. Use the heck out of them. Maximize your business and get all over it, but don't be lazy or silly and think that nothing can happen to you.
Your Greatest Asset in Business
Your greatest asset in this business is your LIST. Your contacts, your database…the names, phone numbers and email addresses of the people you do business with and want to do business with in the future is your most valuable asset.
All businesses have assets and liabilities. In network marketing, we don't have buildings, massive equipment or other “tangible” assets. Yea…your computers go in that asset column because they hold valuable data that you need access to in order to conduct business.
But…for you to avoid a network marketing disaster, my question to you is this.
What are you doing to protect those assets?
I've had way too many conversations with people that aren't doing anything at all…and think they're living in Social Media Fairy Tale land where everything is perfect, delightful and fun. I'm sure it can be when your business is booming…until the moment you wake up one day like I did and find your Facebook page shut off. No access to your contacts, no ability to communicate with people. Gone. It has happened to me…and MANY MANY others.
So…what the hell do you do about it?
How to Protect your Assets from a Complete and Total Meltdown
So…let me give you some action steps to take right now and begin protecting your business assets. And, I'm going to go into far more detail here than simply save your butt from Social Media meltdown.
Please pay attention here and DO SOMETHING about it. Every single network marketer ought to be doing this…and the reality is that very few are.
#1: Stop Relying on Social Media as your Only Recruiting Tool. Yes…use it! Be all over it, but don't be naive and think that the rug won't ever be pulled underneath you. If you ONLY recruiting using Social Media, you're a one-trick pony. Successful marketers need to have a myriad of reaching out methods, not just one. If Facebook shut you down today, would your recruiting dramatically suffer? If so…it's time to step up your game and make a change. Strong marketers have more than one way to get there!
#2: Do Not Support your Team Exclusively through Social Media. Again…use it. Everyone is on it. Hopefully, you never have to worry about this happening to you. You wake up one day to post in a Private Group you use to support your entire team…and POOF, you have no access to it. Would your business suffer significantly if you no longer had access to supporting your team through Facebook? If YES, then you best be making some changes…and pronto.
Please don't take this as an insult if you're reading this and doing this, just be smart. If you're only source of providing support to your organization is through Facebook Groups, you're making a huge mistake. It's a FREE tool. A better bet would be for you to have a “Team Website” or “Team Support Site”…in ADDITION to what you are doing on Facebook. If it were me…I'd have a team training site that captured every single person's name, phone and email address that I had access to in the case of emergency.
It's pretty easy to set up a simple website to provide resources for your team and get them to OPT IN to a Team Training newsletter or email list that you can use to communicate with the entire organization. Facebook doesn't let you collect email addresses. Even if you didn't have a complete Support or Training Website, you could very easily train everyone in your group to OPT IN to receive training updates from you. In less than 2-minutes, you could create a simple landing page that collects that information so you have access to your team's info in the case of emergency. We have pages like that inside of The Fearless Networker System.
If you're supporting your team and being smart about it, you need to have a back up plan. Sure…use Facebook Groups, but make sure you get everyone plugged into some other form of communication as well.
#3: Start Collecting Personal Contact Information Manually.
After my Facebook page got shut down last year…and when I had NO ACCESS to my personal page or business page, I made the decision to start reaching out to people that I was connected with on Facebook and began asking for their phone number and email addresses so I had them in my personal address book.
I realized the moment I got shut down that there were HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE that I no longer had access to once my Facebook page was shut down. Since then, I've been able to acquire over 1000 phone numbers from personal “Facebook Friends” that I didn't have prior to that shut down.
#4: Back up your Data Both Onsite and Offsite.
I know a lot of people who are super lazy with backing up their computers. It's all fine and good until your computer crashes and you no longer have all that important information you need. I'd suggest backing up your data in multiple areas. Get an external hard drive and schedule regular back ups. It's easy to do…and takes literally no time at all. If your computer ever crashes, you have that information available to restore quickly.
Back up OFFSITE as well. If someone were to rob your house or you had a fire, you'd lose all that information. By backing up your information someplace else (not in your home), you will still have access to your important files.
There are some offsite back up tools you can use, including Carbonite, which I've used for many years. Here's an article from PC Magazine on different Offsite Back up Options as well.
Here's a great quote from Jim Rohn on that puts this into perspective a bit:
“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure.” — Jim Rohn
#4: Never Rely on your Leaders Being on your Team for Life.
Another huge mistake people make is thinking that people will be with them forever and ever. It doesn't happen like that. Sorry. Wish it did. But…it doesn't. If you get lazy and stop recruiting and finding other leaders because you think “you've made it”, you may be in for a big surprise when your top leader runs off to another company and your check plummets overnight.
Yes…this does happen. And…the best insurance you have is to continue to recruit new people so that you have so many layers upon layers of leaders and more leaders that even if one, two or a bunch of them leave, you're still fine.
#5: Save for a Rainy Day.
Our parents told this growing up. It rains everywhere…even in the desert. Businesses go through cycles and seasons. I've spent 27 years in this profession. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen friends of mine overspend and go absolutely bonkers buying stuff. They're out buying $100,000 cars, boats and getting home loans that cost them $10,000 a month for their mortgage. SAVE YOUR MONEY! You should be socking away money left and right…even if you're not making that much.
And…if you say you can't afford to save money, then you might need to adjust your lifestyle and your current spending so that you can put something aside every single month.
I get the need to “show the lifestyle” so you can prove to all your friends how well you're doing in your network marketing business. I've been there. I get it. But, what's more important to you, living in a big fat pad to impress your friends…or living in a home that you can easily afford even if the crap hit's the fan? I'd say the latter is a smarter choice.
#6: File your Taxes and Keep Great Records.
Perhaps you've heard this quote that is usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin in a letter he wrote:
“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Keep great records. Be smart about it. I've been through three different audits…and NONE of them are fun. But, because I've been on top of my game when it comes to keeping great records in my business, I never had to worry about what would happen at the end of those audits.
Here's a really great tool to keep better records in your business: The Tax Bot App
Get it…if you're not so “on top of your record keeping” game. It's worth every penny!
There's a Reason Why I'm So Intense in this Post
I'm scaring you on purpose. You really need to protect yourself.
I've seen Facebook pages gone overnight, never to be seen again.
I've had friends who have had their recruiting plummet because Facebook changed their rules.
I've seen people panic because they no longer had access to their Groups.
I've seen people get lazy and have their entire group go to another company.
I've seen many friends who have had to sell everything they own in order to eat.
I've had friends lose everything on their computers…phone numbers, pictures, etc.
I've had friends not file or keep good records and get audited. That was really bad.
Do yourself a favor and give yourself some peace of mind. Do this stuff. Share this with your team. People need to be smart about their business and protecting their downside.
The cool thing is WHEN you do all that I just mentioned, you won't freak out, stress out or panic when/if any of this stuff were to occur. Do it for your own relaxation. You'll be glad you did!
