But also remember we all start some where as followers and as we grow and conquer our challenges we become the leader people want to follow.

~Kebabope Morapedi

Man you get some feisty conversations going here.

Every business has systems in place.
Some way of organizing the daily activities that need to happen for money to change hands and value to be delivered. For profit to be made. I just got back from Servicing Xerox machines in my Self employed day job.

I used to call it a business but that isn’t really true because I can’t pull up stumps and go on a holiday for 3 months or a year and have everything running as smoothly as if I never went away.

I think people need to redefine what they call a business.

I have systems in place and If i got a business coach in to take a look at them, they’d just roll their eyes at me and shake their head but you know what? Even with my lousy systems, I’ve fed my family of 6 for 4 years with it. I send 2 of them to a private school and live in a nice place.

I basically just make an ok wage with it. But it’s all mine and I made it up from scratch and I’m f@#$’n proud of it.

It’s like Jim said It takes a good 3-5 years to build a business.
I don’t even have to look for customers any more. They find me.

USE your system what ever it is and just get on with it.

Pete.

Leadership to me is about being willing to go out and work away from the marketing trends. If all the current advice is so great, then why isn’t everyone doing it successful?

It’s like an interstate full of traffic all going for the same exit. Does nothing but create a traffic jam. I’ll take the dirt road if it gets me home.

How would you define a “working” system?

For example, I would say a marketing system works if at least one person is making money with it. Most of the systems i’ve come across have MANY people using them to earn full time incomes. This, to me, says the system works–I could be mistaken.

I doubt highly that you haven’t found a single system that works by this definition of mine. So I’m guessing you have a different definition. I THINK that your definition goes something like, “A working system must work for ME.”

Again, if I’m wrong, please correct me.

Going on this second definition, this implies that the operator (you) has something to do with whether or not the system works.

But, like I said before, I could be mistaken about your definition. In which case, maybe your definition is more like, “A working marketing system must be powerful enough to create SOME wealth for everyone.”

Doesn’t work that way either.

It’s kind of like expecting a Ferrari to be driveable by EVERYONE (who can or can’t drive) just because it has a powerful engine. Does that make sense? Of course not, only people who know how to drive can drive it.

Only the people who can drive will then benefit from the power of the Ferrari’s engine.

In the same sense, most MLMers who are still looking for systems aren’t failing because they haven’t found a powerful system. It’s because they haven’t learned to market. Let them learn marketing then go searching for better systems.

The power of your system will only affect you if you can market in the first place.

I’m sure you’re not asking for the gurus to prove their systems for the benefit of the people who CAN market, are you?

Jim

The point here is that no “perfect” system exists. The element that breaks down in every system is the individual controlling it.

A marketing system can be like a powerful jet plane…it has the potential to fly anywhere very fast. But only a good pilot can get it off the ground.

Franchises are systems too. They are not much better than MLM. Except that they have a high cost of entry (and that implies a high cost of exit). So less people are ABLE to start a franchise, and the few who do start one are forced to stick it out for a while. Or else, they will lose their high investment.

Despite this, franchises have a high rate of failure too. They are not better than MLM.

Leaders can make any system work. Just like a good pilot can take off in a weak plane or a powerful one. Why don’t we let the people searching for magical systems keep looking for them?

Jim