Thursday, December 03, 2009

How A Career In Network Marketing Empowers Women To Empower Others!

From The Home Office of Sue Seward

At Lake Travis in Austin Texas




Surveys conducted by the Direct Selling Association (DSA) revealed that approximately 85.2% of direct sellers are women. For all you men out there, who are reading this article, think of all the excellent opportunities you have to sponsor more women to grow your organizations. Keep reading because all you guys will become empowered too!



Women are wired to network! Maybe it’s because most women have this ingrained sense of nurturing and the ability to put another person’s needs before their own. Women are usually great listeners and have been known to have eyes behind their head! Perhaps this starts when a woman has a baby and that baby depends totally on his or her mom for support therefore mom must put her needs aside to tend to her child first.



This article was started on November 16th, my Mom’s 81st birthday. She was one of the first women who encouraged me to reach out to help and encourage others and not let anyone steal the dream. She has always been a great listener with a keen sense of women’s intuition and yes she has eyes behind her head!



Network Marketing can be the perfect choice for women who tend to struggle with the decision to build a career outside the home or build a business from within the home embracing the entire family. Placing our children in the care of others is not a pleasant thought is it? I know it wasn’t for me personally. This is one of the main reasons why I chose to build a career in Network Marketing and focus on treating it like any other career rather than treating it more like a hobby.



For me personally working for someone else has never been appealing. The thought of being a prisoner with the ole ball and chain comes to mind so this gave me the incentive to give it the right focus to never give up no matter what.




The love of developing into a connector turning networking into match making was not only appealing it’s actually become a lot of fun. Connecting people becomes a profession in itself. It’s time for people to stop seeing the Network Marketing industry as a get rich quick lottery deal and start using more women’s intuition to advance our industry. When more people wake up to this phenomenal concept we will begin to see a heck of a lot more growth in our profession. Women can be at the forefront of this phenomenon just by learning to become a better people connector.



Walk into a networking event and watch how the women who realize the value of this concept conduct themselves. They are going to most likely be the ones walking away with some valuable contacts after they’ve had a little match making fun.




When walking into the next networking event try a little experiment. See how many people you can connect up together. Consider this a connect the dot experiment! The more people you connect the more referrals you’re going to walk out with! Do not focus on yourself, instead totally focus on them. Take a genuine interest in every person you are connecting with and listen to people because when you focus on what they are saying they will give you clues. Keep your antenna up to pick up on those clues and when you sense any sort of negative vibes from someone that means to back off because you’re probably focusing too much on your own agenda and not focusing on what’s important to them.



After you introduce yourself zero in on them by asking what they do, what’s important to them and then, hold your tongue! Ask them who would be a good referral for them and then make sure you connect them with that referral by following through on what you say you are going to do.



Network Marketing is one of the only industries that actually give a person, any person, the chance to take back the American dream and there are no glass ceilings here for women! We can climb as high as we want to go and help as many people get there that want to come along with us including our family.



A profession in Network Marketing allows women like me who barely made it out of high school with no college degree, to build a solid career that pays as much or more than some people who have degrees. A Network Marketing career even pays someone when they’re not able to work. I experienced this first hand when going through some serious health challenges and through it all the income was secure.

Where else can someone earn an income even if they are not able to work with the exception of government assistance?



In network marketing the income earned is determined by the effort each person decides to devote versus taking a handout. It’s more of a hand up! Instead of giving people an apple to feed them for one day we teach people to plant an apple orchard and feed them for life. That’s what we do in Network Marketing every day when we empower others and teach them a new way to build their life for the better.



This profession gives women incredible leadership and character growth which can be considered priceless for a woman like me who had no experience, income, credibility, contacts, little confidence, and no corporate background when starting out many years ago. If it was all lost today confidence is built up to know it could be done all over again.



Experience, self-development and leadership character is something to work at every single day and not something that’s handed out for nothing. Self-development is an ongoing process no matter how successful a person becomes. The possibilities are endless in Network Marketing for the woman who sees what this profession really has to offer beyond just the income.



Some people get into Network Marketing with the ole ‘I'll give it a try’ attitude and never set their enterprise up like a real business entity right from the start. It's not being treated like a real business because there’s no real plan. Jim Rohn says “when you fail you failed to plan!”



When Network Marketing is treated more like a hobby people may pick up on that attitude and say “Oh she’s just a stay at home mom with a little hobby on the side.” Prove them wrong by developing the skills to boost your enterprise to a full time income career that can give you the leverage and freedom to do the important things you cherish like having more time to take care of your family.



A lot of times in Network Marketing we hear people say “you mean there's an investment to get started and to develop myself? “ What happens is people who do not get started right in the first place may end up quitting because delayed gratification is too difficult to wait for or they do not understand the importance of long term personal growth.


Entrepreneurs constantly invest in themselves and usually work without pay for many years. They understand delayed gratification because they realize that the eventual pay off can be huge. Many experience losses and overcome those too because they’ve grown personally and have the confidence to do it all over again. Entrepreneurs act and present themselves as professionals with a business minded attitude. Having this sort of attitude will create more attraction to your enterprise. Strive to develop into an entrepreneur. There’s a great DVD on this called ‘The Call of the Entrepreneur’.



It's up to the leaders in our industry to show professionalism at all times. It’s important not to bash another person's company or product or try and talk someone into or convince them to join your company when they have said they are happy with what they are doing. Help people to realize that they too can be successful and then show them how to get there on their time schedule by finding out what their dreams and goals are.



One of the main priorities for building a career in Network Marketing has been the ability to provide opportunities for our children.



We brought our son James to Austin to play tennis a few years ago he was a very weak player, a pudgy 14 year old who was 30 pounds heavier, who they had to take and mold like a piece of clay. He has had to work very hard to compete here with kids who have been playing tennis since they were seven or eight years old. Most of them were way ahead of him. He has made it this far because he has a sincere desire to become an excellent tennis player and obtain a college scholarship.



For many months we thought that we had made a mistake and were wasting time and money because we just were not seeing him winning the matches and moving up in levels. It has been grueling to watch him lose match after match. Not really realizing that he's right on target with his development in becoming an incredible athlete as well as an exceptional leader. These are skills that will take him far into his future and tennis is a sport he can play for the rest of his life!



At the end of the year party we were shocked to hear that our son was giving the end of the year speech! James is a young man of few words and very low key. He took the challenge the coach gave him and we had tears of joy when he gave his speech loud and clear in front of over 50 people including his peers! This took a tremendous amount of courage and gave us hope and reassurance that we've done the right thing by giving him the opportunity to grow into the leader he is becoming! Mom was extremely proud that day and very thankful for Network Marketing.



The same thing can happen for women and really anyone who chooses to build a solid lasting career in Network Marketing. Think of the possibilities it can give your children.

When we do all the right things now we will see the positive results come back to us in the near future. Three, four or even five years are not much time to invest in the freedom that a career in network marketing can provide for women. What does it matter as long as we get there right?



As a woman, wife and mom, it’s been a sheer joy to create a career in Network Marketing. I’m extremely proud to be living in a country where women have the freedom to choose a profession and build it around the family. I appreciate how this industry has empowered me personally as a woman. It’s an honor to give back to the greatest opportunity in the history of the world and empower everyone whose lives we touch along the way!



Sue is an entrepreneur, wife, mom, coach and has been making connections online since 1996. She is a full time career earner in Network Marketing and lives at Lake Travis in Austin Texas with her husband and two sons. She is a contributing author to ‘The Network Marketing Magazine’ and co-author of the Direct Selling Women’s Alliance book ‘Build It Big’. To learn more about how to develop your plan B and to subscribe to her newsletter visit - >http://www.ecommercehomebiz.com

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