Leadership is critical in Network Marketing. There can be two teams that seem otherwise identical, but the one with a good leader will grow and the one with a bad leader will decline. 

So how do you lead, become more powerful and be more influential in the growth of your business? I want to share my journey to leadership with you. I hope it will help you find your path to leadership. 

I became a leader in Network Marketing out of necessity. I thought, “Until a real leader shows up, someone who is really qualified, in the meantime, I’ll be a leader.”

I joined Network Marketing in 1988. I wasn’t a leader. I was 23 years old and I’d already had 18 different jobs. I was nobody’s prize – no college degree, no charisma, no leadership ability. I did manage to get a small team together, but they weren’t following me, they were following the company and other people. Then several things started me on the path to leadership. 

First, I was willing to be potentially embarrassed by getting up in front of people because someone told me, “The person with the marker makes the money.” So I started telling my story and people on my team started to see me a little differently. 

Next, I learned how to do a presentation, and I got good at it. People started to see me as a leader even though I really wasn’t one. Soon people on my team started to be proud of me. I had earned some respect. Instead of people taking their prospects to meet their upline, they would introduce them to me. If they couldn’t close a prospect or couldn’t convince someone on the team to come to an event, they would bring them to me. I started being a catalyst for activity. People started to want to make me proud of them. They would perform on a higher level because they were on my team. I also learned how to do a basic training, but I was still very small in respect to other leaders in the area. 

Then, the guy who ran the entire city, my mentor, left town for a couple of months. The efficient meeting system he had set up – and I relied on – fell apart. So I went to the committee and asked if I could tighten things up. They sent me away. Then they started canceling meetings. Even though they weren’t listening to me, and even though I wasn’t a true leader yet, I did something a leader would do. I had my own meeting.

The committee wasn’t happy, and said they wouldn’t be a part of it in any way. But so many things happened in the 10 days leading up to that meeting that made me grow as a leader. 

I wanted to fix the things that I didn’t like about the previous meetings, but most importantly, I had to fill the meeting. I called everyone I knew and told them I needed their support. About 50 people came to the meeting and I personally sponsored 18 people that night, more than I ever had in just one day. And that was the day I became somewhat of a leader in the market. My team was so proud. 

After a couple of weeks, the committee asked if we could join forces. I told them we had to do it my way and they agreed. I became the leader of my city. 

Through this experience, I learned first-hand that leaders are willing to do what other people are not willing to do. They’re also willing to do things before they’re prepared, risk public humiliation, put themselves out there and take risks that others won’t take.
Remember, leaders create activity where there is none.