the NEW economy

Parts of this may sound suspiciously similar to ranting, but I just want you to know that…uh…yup, that’s about it. Without further ado.

Three and a half years ago, I was introduced to an idea. This idea was already something I had previously understood to a degree, and thus I was loath to dive into debt for a post-secondary education. What I didn’t know was there was a better way out there, a shift in the global economy that could be learned and taken advantage of. A lot of what I’m about to say I learned from a man named Eric Worre.

So, the world as we know it has changed. For people who don’t - or refuse - to see it, I’m afraid the worst is yet to come. But there are people who do see it, and here’s what they’ve noticed: Over the last hundred years, an interesting phenomenon occurred. The rise of the corporation became the standard of society. The safe and respected place for people to exist in the workplace was as an employee.

Step one: Go to school to learn how to be an employee.

Step two: Find a company that will employ you.

Step three: Work for that company for 40 years.

Step four: Retire.

In recent decades, the promise of being rewarded by the company you work for because of your loyalty and hard work has been exposed as a myth. People started realizing the loyalty they were giving to their company was not being given in return. So a different process evolved.

Step one: Go to school to learn to be an employee.

Step two: Find a company that will employ you.

Step three: Switch companies for various political and economic reasons every three to five years over the course of your career.

Step four: Find that you can’t retire comfortably after 40 years, so you keep working.

And now, we are going through one of the biggest shifts of our lives. The world is moving towards a performance economy. More and more companies and industries are now no longer paying people for their time, but instead are basing wages on performance. Servers in the food industry are already living in this world. They get paid very low hourly wages (as required by law) and make their living through tips. For office workers, here is an example.

A person has a $60,000 salary.

Step one: The company will lower that salary to something like $50,000 because with today’s marketplace there are other people to take the job for a lower amount.

Step two: They will reduce the “base” salary to something like $20,000.

Step three: They will tell that person they can get an additional $30,000 over the year if they hit certain performance benchmarks on a monthly basis.

Companies love this new way of doing things. They save tons of money when you don’t hit your numbers, and guess what? If you do, they will gradually (and often abruptly) raise the requirements. Unless you are extremely specialized, this will happen to you; if it hasn’t already, I would count on it. The evolution is already well underway.

Something else is happening at the same time, feeding the first problem: Companies need fewer and fewer people to run efficiently. The exponential rise of technology has changed everything. Even McDonalds is now getting large touch screens instead of tellers for you to order your food. Soon even the cooks will be replaced by machines to do their jobs. Every other corporation will need to make the same advances to stay viable or they will disappear. Notice how call centers are now robotic? Remember going to a store and seeing massive amounts of sale people? Now we order online. Remember Blockbuster video? Now we have Netflix, and a wave of new outlets for media streaming. It’s an exciting world to live in, but a tough one in which to stay employed.

Technology and efficiency are eliminating jobs every single day, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. In fact, it’s only going to accelerate.

At the age of 27, I have already had over two dozen jobs and have seen all of these things happen, over and over - which is why I always believed one day something would emerge and take advantage of this NEW economy. That something is what I was shown three and a half years ago.

Network Marketing. I can already feel a lot of you cringing as you read it. Sorry, but the best way I know to not only survive, but to thrive in the new economy is Network Marketing. There are important products and services in the world today that need to be promoted by the people who need them. Consumers still need to be educated.

Companies have choices, they can dive into the ever-fragmented world of advertising to get the word out, they can hire a large and expansive sales force to sell their products or services, or they can utilize Network Marketing to spread their story to the world.

More and more companies choose to use Network Marketing because it fits the new economy. They can provide all the corporate support and pay distributors on a purely performance basis to promote their products or services. It’s extremely efficient because in the new economy, word-of-mouth advertising continues to work better than any other form of promotion. The company simply takes the money they would have spent on advertising and promotion (typically about 70% of profits) and instead pays that money to their distributors to get the word out.

What that means for you as an entrepreneur is that you can receive all of the benefits of traditional business ownership without the typical risks. AND there will be no cap on your income, because Network Marketing companies WANT you to make as much as possible. If you’re going to be paid on performance anyway, why live with the cap, right?

Network Marketing is also a business of building people up, helping one another and embracing the service of others. This is completely upside down in terms of traditional business – you know, the kind that revolves around pushing others out of your way, climbing on over top of each other, and fighting to reach the peak using superior politics rather than skill.

There is a catch though, and it’s a nasty one. Here it is:

You must accept a temporary loss of social esteem from ignorant people.

That means that for a while, people still living in and trying to function in the old system will think less of you. There is a reason why, and it’s not just because they are stuck in the old system. Most people have either joined a Network Marketing company or know someone who has. This is what goes through the mind of virtually every person who decides to get involved “Hmmm, I can think of five or six people who might do this too! My sister would be great! My friend loves this kind of thing. I know this other person who could be amazing! Okay, I’ll join.”

In other words, they aren’t joining a profession. They’re just hoping to get lucky, sign up a few people and sit back and wait for the money to roll in. The lure of being paid for someone else’s work is powerful, but often sorely misinterpreted. They haven’t started a real business. They just purchased a glorified lottery ticket. The reality is, very few people have the skills when they first begin to make it big - although some certainly do - and because of that lack of skill, most of them end up with nothing (just like that poor little lottery ticket). It becomes just another lost opportunity.

So they rip up the ticket. Who wants to take responsibility for failing to even try starting a business? Much easier to blame Network Marketing, and don’t forget to tell the world, “Look, I’ve been there. I’ve done it. I talked to every person I know, and Network Marketing just doesn’t work. Save your money.”

THAT’S what you’re dealing with when you choose this profession. And I’m the first to admit, it is hard to handle. If this sounds too hard to handle, it isn’t right for you. But if you can embrace it, then the world is yours. Seriously.

Some people like to say, “Perception is reality.” I really hate that saying. Great leaders worldwide have been ignoring it for centuries. What if Nelson Mandela had said perception is reality? What if Martin Luther King Jr. had said perception is reality? Real leaders say, ‘Reality is reality, truth is truth, and I will do everything possible to open your eyes.’

The truth is, Network Marketing isn’t perfect, because neither are people. It’s just better, and that’s reality.