In the delightful "Idea book" Fredrik Haren has a page called:
Find the bug:
Identify what irritates you.
He describes how the inventor of Linux, the world class computer operating system, came to develop it.
This gent named Linus Torvald was completely bugged one day that an operating system he had bought, wouldn't work. Even after he wrote some code. He was so sure his code was right, he decided the system he bought MUST be wrong, and set about to disassemble it and put it back together - and that is how the Linux operating system was born.
In our business, network marketing, I hear hundreds of complaints every week - things that bug people in the thick of it. Both major players who are having trouble getting their people to do more, and new people who don't want to do the things they're told to do. And that's pretty much where it stops.
Almost no one seems to think they can change it. Some people are of course not yet committed enough to want to take the time and energy to change it. But if it matters enough to you to do something about it, start.
Do not underestimate yourself: If you are really frustrated by certain experiences, it might be something YOU can make better - and if it helps you, like what happened for Linus, it might help thousands of others.
Why you? Well, you are doing the business, aren't you? You don't need to be an expert to start a revolution or join one: Just committed to change with a vision of what can be better. And a willingness to experiment. To tinker without being attached to the results of each experiment. Whining's easy. Anyone can do that. :)
We all know that the best revolutions start from the inside out - it's those who are experiencing the irritating things that drive them to come up with an improvement that solves it, the way Linus Torvald (and countless others) did. Look how many people are happier now just because HE did something about a problem that irritated him.
If you, like me, have a longing to see network marketing be practiced so that it will not be seen as "low rent" and so that there is not so much frustration with bossy upline pushing systems and methods on people who don't want to do those particular things, if you're tired of the push to recruit only, with no focus on regular customers, and if you're tired of no training on how to "talk to people" when that's the one thing they tell you to do, and if you want to do something about it because you believe, like I do, that an average person with the right tools and commitment can in fact make it work, then try this (adapted from the Idea book):
Write down ten things that bug you about the business.
Try to come up with an improvement, another way to do it, or something else entirely to do or not do, which not only solves the situation irritating you, but which also makes your experience in the business a little bit better. If it helps you, might it not help others, too?
Post your irritations and proposed improvements below. We can discuss here, and in a future seminar.
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Got a Question? Ask.
Ask the community a question about this article:
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is ad sense retiring? profit decreases or privacy issues?
By: Rick Marengo AXLR8 | 27-07-2008
Is that why the adsense stuff disappered suddenly from the right hand side of my gmail? Were there privacy issues or did that play a part?
Response to: The Golden Age of Digital Marketing - 23 July 2008
By: Ray | 25-07-2008
89N The Golden Age of Digital Marketing - 23 July 2008
It was with much interest that I read the report on the Netimperative Directors? Dinner discussing the golden age of digital marketing.
I completely agree that the marketing profession faces many challenges in its ambition to be taken seriously at the highest levels of business. As the various speakers highlighted, one of the key challenges is the perception of what marketing is.
Recent research carried out for The Chartered Institute of Marketing by Ipsos MORI revealed that 73 per cent of working marketers surveyed believed there was a large gap between the reality of what marketing does and how it is seen by other parts of the business.
Until marketing is recognised as a key driver of value in organisations, it will struggle to gain the respect of other professional business colleagues. However, marketing must earn that respect.
As highlighted by several speakers, marketers must reach out to colleagues in other functions and those at a senior level, and communicate clearly with them the value they create for the organisation, in terms they understand ? which in boardrooms is predominantly financial.
The Institute continues to promote the profession and attempt to change attitudes towards marketing in the wider business community. It has established links with various government departments to promote professional marketing, and has developed professional marketing standards that employers can benchmark their employees against.
The drive towards proper recognition and respect for the vital role marketing has to play in today?s organisations has to start with greater accountability and clearly demonstrating the value marketers create.
I am in no doubt that digital marketing, with its greater measurability, will be in the vanguard of marketers? increasing acceptance at the top table.
Ray Jones
The Chartered Institute of Marketing
25 July 2008
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