Life priorities are as diverse as the people who enter network marketing.
For some, there is a single guiding priority, for others a mix of them. Here are
some of the key life areas where priorities may be set:
- Family
- Spiritual and personal growth
- Financial security
- Career satisfaction
- Health and well-being
- Relationships
- Recreation
- Community service
Whatever your life priorities are, you must identify each clearly and
rank them according to their importance before striking out. Your business
should be something that helps you achieve what is important to you, a force
for transforming these priorities from goals on paper or in your head to a re-
ality that you live.
When the sacrifices of time and effort necessary to succeed in network
marketing clash with your life priorities, as in Joe’s case, the fit is wrong and
your strategy becomes unworkable. Either you make adjustments or you risk
not just losing your network marketing business, but also doing harm to what
matters most to you.
Of course, success calls for sacrifice. Without investing the necessary re-
sources of time and effort, there will be no rewards in the future. The key is in
striking a balance between what kind of resources you devote to your busi-
ness and what you need to devote to other things. In Joe’s case, if he had
taken the time to perform a realistic assessment of his priorities at the begin-
ning, he could have scheduled time away from his family in a way where the
sacrifices were acceptable. It might have taken him longer to achieve his busi-
ness goals as a result, but he would have gotten there in harmony with his pri-
orities, instead of being derailed along the way.
Julie loved her job. It brought her into contact with many finan-
cially successful people, and she wanted the same kind of success
for herself. By chance, she was introduced to network marketing
and, after overcoming her skepticism, became convinced it was the
right vehicle for achieving the lifestyle she desired.
From the start, she identified her life priority as “financial suc-
cess” and threw herself into her new business. Before long, how-
ever, she discovered that devoting herself to one priority was26 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO NETWORK MARKETING