A few years ago we made the case for Moms being the top MLM trainer. I really didn’t think much of it, just kind of writing a tribute to my Mom years ago.
And every year, about 2 weeks before Mother’s Day, we lots of requests about reposting it and explaining, once again, why a good Mom is the top MLM trainer. Always has been, always will be… so thanks to all you Moms for asking us to update this and run it on Mother’s Day.
Mahalo for all the kind words and emails each year…Mom my cried when she read this, years ago… she’s gone now but I get to cry a few tears of joy each year that I repost it
MOMS and Networkers
My Mom doesn’t know anything about Network Marketing or so I thought when she asks me how my business is going.
I think she doesn’t understand it; maybe it’s me that doesn’t understand.
MOM taught me everything I needed to know to build a network marketing business, she gave me network marketing skills. Turns out, after all these years, I realize, hands down, Mom was the top MLM trainer, ever.
MOM
Mother’s Day. Don’t we all feel like we should do a little more all year for Mom?
Would it really kill us to go to Mom’s house and leave the cell phone in the car, have a cup of coffee and just be ‘present’?
Can’t make up for the past, you know, all those times we’re a ‘little to busy’ to just visit?
She was never too busy for me.
NETWORKERS
Don’t we all feel like we like we could all do a little more recruiting?
Would it really kill us to sit at our desk an hour a night and dial the phone and be ‘present’?
Can’t make up for the past, you know, all those times we were making ourselves “little to busy” to just dial?
Why are we always too busy to actually do the business?
MOMS
She encouraged me to dream.
She knew my dreams and encouraged them and me.
She asked me about them.
She found places, like where to get me signed up for Little League, and got me there. So many countless things.
NETWORKERS
We encourage others to dream.
We tell them they have to have a “why”
Tell them to write it down.
But do we know their dreams like Mom knew ours?
Do we find articles, pictures and events that support them?
After they do write it down, do we ever, like Mom, ask them about it again?
MOMS
Mom was a hands-on-teacher. Not a school teacher.
She was patient. Persistent. Insistent.
She never quit when I struggled. Never.
Yeah, she made me read the directions, sat there while I read them and answered a lot of the same questions over and over.
Asked me if I understood them and then she showed me how to do things right….no matter how many times it took.
She taught me skills.
NETWORKERS
Am I a hands on teacher or do I just “plug” them in?
Do I quit on them when they struggle and rationalize it as ‘they don’t want it bad enough’?
Do I make sure they get the directions and make sure they understand them?
Could I be a lot more patient when I have a rep on the phone and they are not “up to speed”?
Am I as willing to answer the same questions over and over?
Do I teach skills or just keep selling the dream?
MOMS
Mom never quit setting an example of excellence, even when people were not looking.
Never.
She never asked me to do anything she was not doing herself.
She was never a “do as I say, not as I do” Mom.
She never quit on me.
NETWORKING
Do I set an example of excellence?
…..even when others are not looking?
Do I dog it and tell others what to do even though I am not doing it myself?
Am I a “do as I say, not as I do” managing MLMer?
Do I quit on myself and others with the lie that tomorrow I will double up?
MOMS
My Mom had to quit school and take care of her brothers and sisters when her Mom died.
Got her GED in her 50s.
Went to college, studied hard and graduated with highest honors in her 60s.
She was excused from her finals her last year.
Took them anyway, wanted to test herself.
All A’s, of course.
She knew she’d Ace the tests.
Always prepared. Well in advance.
Pride.
NETWORKERS
Am I staying a student, continuing grow as a person and learn about people and my trade?
Or am I surfing the web for short cuts?
Do I have pride in my profession and performance or do I look for the easier, softer way and pretend I am ‘working smarter, not harder?’
Am I ready for the daily test of growing a business?
Do my actions show I am prepared to be a top MLM trainer?
Am I prepared to succeed to the point that I know that I will?
MOMS
Manners.
Please and thank you and no elbows the table.
Listen first. Ask for permission to speak, don’t take it.
Respect their needs, forget your wants.
Never talk about people that are not present.
It’s OK to disagree but don’t be disagreeable.
Honesty is the greatest of all manners.
NETWORKERS
Do I have manners?
Do I belittle people mentally or with other reps who do not join?
Do I tell people why I am calling or ‘pretend to be their friend’ so I can use their words against them later to look?
Do I ask if it is OK to tell them about my business?
Am I focused on their needs or just trying to scare them about the future?
Do I listen? Do I take a ‘no’ as graciously as a ‘yes’?
Am I honest?
MOMS
She never hesitated to go the extra mile for us.
Never stopped looking for the extra mile.
NETWORKERS
We have a chance to do this for others everyday AND get paid for it.
Do we look for it? Take it?
MOMS
My Mom is 89, legally blind and needs help.
Told her she has 2 choices.
Assisted living or move 6000 miles from Massachusetts to Kauai, HI and live with us.
She’s was living in the town she was born in.
Mom says she’s scared. Says she’s used to where she lives. Knows where everything is and it’s comforting.
She packed and she’s here in Kauai.
Courage. Mom’s have courage.
Picking up the phone takes some courage. At least we like to pretend it does. Not as much as moving 6000 miles to a place you’ve never been to… at 89… and blind.
Do I lack courage or am I just lazy? Mom’s are not lazy.
Rejection? Mom never accepted any obstacle as a reason to let fear determine her life.
Santa Januszewski turned 89 on October 12, 2010. Columbus Day. How appropriate. :) She still has the guts to explore.
Networking allowed me to step up and doing something special for myself and our Mom.
I wonder how much sooner great things would have happened in the lives of others if I had not made the mistake of thinking Mom knew nothing about Network Marketing and realized she knew intuitively how to be a top MLM trainer?
Like a little boy, I foolishly thought my business was so different that she’d never understand it.
Turns out she knew everything IMPORTANT about it before I was born.
Happy Mother’s Day
UPDATE from 2012. Mom’s up in New England now, turned 90, still checking up to make sure I’m doing the right things and brushing my teeth…wanted to see her brothers and sisters.
Hoping she’ll be back in a few months… I need my top MLM trainer back 🙂
UPDATE 2017. At 92, few years back, she packed it in, moved on to the next adventure. Buried her next to my Dad. Great day because we ran the service like she ran her life, a celebration. My Dad died in 1953. Mom never remarried, Joe was the love of her life. When she went back in 2012 the first order of business was visiting the grave, as always… with flowers and gratitude.
Moms are loyal to people. Maybe networkers could learn something there.
Lot’s of great advice I could share with you but the best advice she ever gave me about networking came at her kitchen table, long before Kauai. I was just getting started and showing her a magazine the company put out. I was telling her about all the top pin levels, the big checks people were earning, pointing them out to her. I’d shown her, I’d guess, about 2-3 pages of achievers, had about 4 pages to go. She slams her hand on the magazine as I was turning a page.
“You’ve heard enough success stories Markie…isn’t it time become one?”
I’d love two things here… love to know your “best wisdom” you ever learned from your Mom. Your Mom a top MLM trainer too? And I’d love to know you’re going to be “mother’s day nice” more often during the year. When they are gone, they are gone.
believe,
Mark Januszewski
World’s Laziest Networker