follow me @ This well known statistic in Network Marketing almost got me to quit everything and forget about this business model. But instead of quitting I started to learn about why, if in fact it was true, that actually 97% of Network Marketers will fail in their business ventures?
The more I read and thought about the subject, the more I started to see that this particular stats is well known for the industry of Network Marketing but it also applies to human nature and the way WE live our lives. What I am trying to say here is that this stats is actually reflecting not only how people are succeeding in Network Marketing but also the way our society works.
When you compare Network Marketing with a traditional corporation, what do you get in terms of structure? To me, I see the same so-called pyramid in corporation than in MLMs. You have the CEO / President at the top level and COO / CFO / Vice-President on the second level, all the top managers managing all the other level of managers and than you get to the bottom level were most of basic employees are (I would guess close to that 97% right here, alright maybe a bit less but you get the similarity). You could argue that at least those 97% employees have not failed because they have a secure job and getting a predictable paycheck week after week, but this is a relative opinion on what is success. Some people will be happy as the bottom level employees for the rest of their lives while others will want to climb on the higher levels and some will even get fired from that particular pyramid.
So can we actually blame this 97% failure in Network Marketing solely on the industry and its pyramid structure? If this was the case, no one could succeed after a certain level, but history shows that certain individual have been able to create bigger empire than most of their upper levels. Like some employees will rise to the top of the corporation quicker than individual who have been in the company many years prior. This shows that this pyramid structure is never perfectly distributed which there is always room for the entrepreneur who is motivated and energetic to build a successful business his own way and on ANY level he wants.
Then it all comes down to what? Well, it’s all about YOU…
I’m sure you all heard this before and just said “yeah yeah” and try to still blame it on everything else but yourself but the fact is that there is no other answer that better describe the behavior and the pattern we see in the Network Marketing industry about that 97% failure statistic. Another fact is that people are blindly getting involved with an MLM company thinking it’s a “money making machine” and they won’t need to work at all to make tons of cash right away, well if this would be true, 97% would be successful and 3% failures.
In conclusion, Network Marketing is a well established business model and NOT a “Get Rich Quick” like many seems to think and consequently contributing to this 97% stats of failures. People need to realize that failure is ONLY due to lack of hard work and self motivation. No industry, no company and no individual are responsible for your success (or failure). IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU !
knowledge is key to your success
Ghislain Bryar
October 27th, 2009 at 7:33 am
well said!