Network Marketing - Easy as That

I wanted to address something that makes me chuckle.
When I was 22, a funny, bubbly and kind-hearted woman came into the hotel that I worked at and we hit it off. She was staying with her husband for several days and it was like a family vacation. I loved her. We loved each other. She knew I loved natural solutions and natural healthcare and that I was kind of a hippie at heart and I was moving to France soon, and how I had big dreams and eventually she told me about this mangosteen fruit drink she drank and asked me if I wanted some.
I loved it.
It was sooooooooooo tasty.
Come to find out, it had miraculous benefits to heal inflammation and for overall health and wellness. I was hooked. I drank it all the time. I shared it with others. I didn’t know much about business back then, but found out that this drink was shared and bought through network marketing: you could only purchase it through someone else who was signed up with the company. It didn’t really matter to me HOW I bought it: if it was from the local store, or from this woman I trusted and considered my friend.
Eventually I moved to France and didn’t want to bother with shipping and it was hard to transport and the French taught me a lot about wellness anyway.  But I still salivate when I think of Xango.
Back then, when I told people (especially those folks a few decades older than me) about how you can buy Xango, they would roll their eyes and say, “Oh, it’s a pyramid scheme.”
I had asked my dad what this pyramid scheme stuff was all about and he told me, basically, that the SCHEME part came when someone offered a business opportunity but there was no movement of product. So I guess there were definitely some a-holes who decided to take advantage of people in the 80s or whatever, and schemes happen all the time, every day in fact, right under our noses (the average mark-up of ice cream is like 300% and we all buy it!) but I KNEW Xango was legit….I mean, I drank it EVERY SINGLE DAY! There was movement of product! People loved the stuff.
From time to time, when I introduce people to these miraculously healing essential oils that have literally changed my life, and they learn that doTERRA moves their product through network marketing, they bring up this notion of a “pyramid scheme” which has always made me laugh because I wonder if they really have any idea what they’re talking about. I learned about it, asked questions, did my research, and realized that there were a few companies that gave the entire industry a bad name. People who think all companies are like this are just ignorant to the truth.
Do you work at a school as a teacher and have a principal or superintendent “above you?” That’s a pyramid.
Do you have a life-sucking job that you dread going to every day because you get paid unfairly and the CEO makes all the money? That’s a pyramid.
I don’t have to say any more. This funny little video sums it up perfectly.

And so I’m here to address this little phrase and to dispel any myths about network marketing and to answer any and all questions you may have about it.  But don’t ask me.  I’m no expert.  The video is right: experts on the subject Robert Kiyosaki and Warren Buffet are all you have to study to understand that network marketing is a legitimate and brilliant business model that helps all parties involved.

My teammate, Maddie, wrote a great blog post about how her views were changed on the subject when she knew she could help herself by helping others. “Believing that residual income is unfair not only keeps you locked in a narrow view of how your life needs to play out, but it is also rooted in a scarcity mentality. Network marketing, when done well, is proof that there is more than enough to go around. A good structure emphasizes teamwork and relationships. I succeed by helping my team to succeed. I grow by helping them to grow. I create abundance by helping them to create abundance. We are generously compensated for bringing essential oils into people’s lives, which creates prosperity in the form of good health. The production of the essential oils, which are harvested and distilled around the world in the plants’ native environments, helps local communities to flourish and prosper. Everybody benefits.”

If your friend is wearing an outfit that you like, you typically ask him or her, “Where did you get that,” right? If you see a piece of furniture or kitchen utensil at someone’s house that could be useful to you, you ask, “Where can I find something like that,” right?!  When I asked my friend, who was using essential oils, “How can I get me some of that?!” She told me how.  I benefited from receiving the oils.  She benefited from sharing the oils.  And it was as easy as that.