Like most people, Mellissa I found her way into network marketing by mistake. Facing redundancy coupled with $100,000 worth of debt, she knew that she needed to get scrappy and get scrappy quick! 

After being introduced to a network marketing company, she saw almost immediate success, matching her corporate income within eight months.  

3 key things Melissa credits for her Network Marketing success:

1. Ability to talk about the products very easily
2. An already established (and large) network 
3. Already known for something in the fitness industry

It took 15 years for the same level of income in the corporate world, she knew she really started to think like a business owner. 

Hitting the income ceiling 

For seven years, Melissa managed a team of over 5000 and earned well over a million dollars. But she realised that if she was going to grow,  she needed to start thinking differently — it was time to stop thinking like a network marketer, start thinking like a business owner.

She began to learn the importance of personal brand and self-identity. She was unapologetic about sharing her story around debt, finances, and her journey through fitness and body dysmorphia.

Then the unthinkable happened

In 2019 I got the phone call.

“They're restructuring from a multi-level comp plan to a single level comp plan in 60 days, so everything you've been building for the past seven years is going to be gone.”

The phone called left Melissa in shock, but she had been able to adapt to a dramatic change before so she was able to pivot her business. 

The power of influencer marketing 

Influencer marketing is powerful because people buy people. Think about the people you follow on Instagram, it’s likely you know A LOT about them — their quirks, backstory, their relationship, where they live and their dog's name! You probably feel like you would be besties with some of these people in real life. 

They do such a good job of creating a brand to attract their ideal customer that whatever they’re selling or buying, you will probably buy too because you believe in who she is and what she stands for.

How to stand out from the crowd

1. Share your quirks
2. Be authentically you

Why network marketing?

Nobody gives you a handbook for building a business, there is no entrepreneurial book. But in network marketing, there's a system and there's a plan and it's duplicatable. 

Sadly it can often lead to imitation which then leads to copying and pasting messages from somebody else (yes, Melissa is against those icky ‘hey girl’ messages too)

Codependency and network marketing

Every person that is building a network marketing business gets so excited when someone joins their team because they see the potential. The problem with that is then you do literally everything for them and your team doesn’t have the chance to learn through mistakes, they don't learn to build confidence and then they get to a point where they second guess everything that they're doing. 

This leads you to wonder why no one will do what you do and take initiative. That’s because you've created a codependent environment where all they do is rely on you. 

If you want your team to duplicate, you have to teach them how to be thought leaders, not thought followers. That's what's going to create like lifetime income for you. 

Otherwise, you're going to keep spinning plates because they're never going to know how to create unique content that's authentic to them.

The road to success takes time

The roadmap to success is not always six months or eight months because the average small business takes three years to turn a profit. It takes time to learn skills that will yield you success in network marketing.

For example, if you don't understand sales and marketing, because this is a selling and marketing organization, then your pathway to growth and success is going to look a little bit different. Learning how to network appropriately, sell, market, and brand yourself are all key to building a business.

Work out your skillset

When people come into network marketing usually they want at least one (but usually all) of these things: to be a business owner, enjoy time freedom, financial freedom, autonomy in life and the opportunity to create a massive impact.

When you first come to network marketing have a vision of what you want to achieve. So you need to understand that, yes, you can jump right and get started — messy and done is better than perfect and not done — but it’s alost imperative you start thinking like a business owner. You need to work out what your skill set is so that you are crystal clear on exactly what your skill sets are and how can they lend you success in network marketing. 

Growth mindset and business growth

When a business-minded person starts treating their business as a container for growing, their business will grow to the level that they are willing to grow. 

Figure out whatever it is that you feel is the one thing that's holding you back from success and work on it. 

Stop treating your business like the side chick and start treating it like wifey status. You don’t want side chick results, you want wifey status results. 

You have to get clear on what things are really going to move your business forward. Take accountability for it and stop waiting for your mentor to give you all the tools.

Building true net worth

Business owners don't just focus on the profit, they focus on building real wealth. Network marketing gives you such a powerful vehicle to build true net worth and real business owners think in terms of multiple income streams. If you take your income from network marketing and start to invest in other income streams that are going to build your business, that's how you start thinking like a business owner.

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify