Everyone reading this message is in one of two camps: either you have never done Network Marketing before, or you have. For those of you who have, you are in one of two camps also: either you have had success building your business or you have not. Here is some good news: regardless of which of these camps you have been in, this message applies to you!
When I was ten years old I started getting serious (as much as a boy can at that age can) about playing sports. I found that I most enjoyed playing basketball – probably because I was tall for my age. My first coach was also the pastor of my church. Brother Jacobs (as he liked to be called) was not your typical pastor. He had been a hard-nosed Marine, like my Dad. His favorite drill for his 12-and-under team seemed simple, since it was “just” a layup line. Yep, we merely formed two lines: one to shoot layups, and the other to get rebounds. The difference was that, after the rebounder passed the ball to the next shooter, Brother Jacobs made the shooter pass the ball to him while he stood in the middle of the lane. Brother Jacobs in turn would pass the ball back to the shooter while he ran toward the basket – but he would attempt to pass the ball the exact same way that the shooter had passed it to him. Many times, in an effort to hurry through the drill, we boys would make a bad pass to him, and then we would learn just how hard it was to make a simple layup after receiving a bad pass.
You see, Brother Jacobs wanted to teach us that – even in a simple layup drill – we could learn things, if we were Teachable. It was interesting to see how many boys would continue to be in a hurry, make bad passes, and then miss their layups because of having to deal with a bad pass themselves.
I have found that the same message holds true in the Network Marketing industry. No matter how many times your Teachers (your sponsor, your growing upline, a mentor whose book you read) attempt to teach you something, you are going to continue to have a difficult time building your business (“making a layup”) if you are not willing to be Teachable.
Another word for Teachable is Humble. Yes, I said Humble. Humility sometimes is the only thing that prevents someone from winning big – in business, and in Life! Just like the Bible says, “Pride goes before the fall.” I have seen countless successful people – in and outside of Network Marketing – see their business dry up because they became arrogant. They quit being Teachable. You see, no matter how successful you become in your business, there will always be more to learn. Many times I have learned the best lessons from people who had much less success than I had. The key was to remain Humble – remain Teachable – at all times.
Stay Humble, stay Teachable, and you can make enough layups to win in this game called Life.
