Skin in the game

I'm a terrible poker player. When I play Texas Hold 'em, I think I have good cards and will struggle to not keep up with the bids in order to just get a glimpse at whether the next cards will do me any good. I get so excited about the prospect of having a good hand, I completely disregard whether anyone else at the table actually has a better hand. I'm not calculating, nor am I reading the other players; I am simply deciding if I have enough chips to lose in order to see if I can win.

I told my neighbor this one day, and he said "You're the kind of person we LOVE to have at our table."

I am not the kind of person who really likes to take risks, or decide I'm going to go do something spontaneous or outrageous (both words ending with a ridiculous amount of vowels), but I am the kind of person who will find myself in a situation where I just keep wandering down the rabbit hole.

Sometimes you wander into something good. Rarely, but sometimes. Most often, aimless wandering leads you nowhere.

Recently I came across an opportunity to generate an income from home, and I've been completely thrilled by it. The training is fantastic, and I was willing to put in $20 to learn how to do it. So worth it. So so worth it.

But I wanted to know how I could do better. The training for that was more money, and then there is more training and more training. I'm not a patient person. I'm not calculating. I want to know what I need to know, and then I want to apply it as the situations come to me. I learn by doing, but I also know that I can't learn everything right away. So ideally I see the training, file accordingly and as things come up, I know where I can access the necessary information.

This is a crazy tangent.

My bad poker / aimless wandering conclusion: when you have skin in the game, you're going to focus your energy at making things happen. I have skin in the game. We can't afford for me to go off on some wandering expedition to the middle of nowhere. However, what I am so excited about is that I've finally found a direction. I don't feel like I'm wandering anymore. I feel like I have a destination and this program is my vehicle to get there.

I feel really great today, and I'm very excited about our future.

I suck at network marketing

In the last year, I can't recall exactly how many network marketing companies I've looked at, or been talked to about, had people ask me if I wanted to meet, etc. SFI, Team National, a health line of some kind, another health thing, Amway (yep) and my most recent, I believe, was D$ Domination.

I almost signed up for Team National. I learned quite a bit about it and I believe it is a legitimately great company, tons and tons of benefits, savings, rewards, etc. The biggest downside though was that it's all about sales. You're not selling products, you're selling memberships, and parting people (temporarily of course) of $2000. Some people are good at it, but I did not see myself being good at it.

The problem with Network Marketing is that you have to really good at networking AND marketing. OR you really need to be into the product, and then get really good and networking and marketing. You have to be willing to sell and sell and sell and never give up, calling all your family and friends and neighbors and co-workers and and and... it sounds like a lot of work. Gosh, the nerve.

(I'm being sarcastic).

Here's my problem. I'm really shy. If you've ever talked to me, you might think I'm not. But I really have a difficult time interacting with people, and do out of outright necessity. That's the truth. I'm someone who surges with anxiety when I have to call someone on the phone, and though I've never had Xanax, am pretty sure I'd lose all functionality if I was on it.

So here are a few things: Team National costs about $2000 for a membership in which you never have to pay again. If you actually use the membership, you'll save that much in a year or two. If you sell it though, you're looking at serious money coming in. It's a pretty cool deal.

The biggest problem I had was that we couldn't afford to hand over $2000 at the time because we're not in the market to be buying much of anything right now (hence not getting much in savings) and I don't have a significant amount of confidence in my salesmanship to begin generating income in the immediate future.  So after some discussion with my wife (we'll call it that), we decided this wasn't the best venture to journey down at this point in our existence. If anyone is interested though, Team National is a pretty stinking great company, it is real, it can do amazing things.

Fast forward to finding DS Domination. It costs $20 a month to get access to the videos, and resources to get you started. Of course, like most anything, you can always "invest" deeper into the business to be even more successful. What I like about this though is that the guys who run it emphasize to make your money back before you put more money in. Take your time, build your business, see the benefits, change your life and then help others change their lives!

It took me a week to make a sale on ebay, and it was at a loss. Another week went by and my store was in the black, but I'd not quite recouped my investment. Another week and I'd finally crossed that $20 threshold! Three weeks to make a profit. Ouch. But yay!

So here is my quandary: I've seen success, at least at a miniature tiny little level, and so I'm excited about this program! What these guys have put together is amazing and I want to share this with the world! I want to tell my friends and family and relatives and neighbors and dogs and cats and radio shows and start a blog on it, etc. By the way, this is exactly what Network Marketing companies want you to do. That's what it's all about...

BUT I SUCK AT NETWORK MARKETING.

I'm not thrilled about "selling" this to anyone. I'd rather just say "I am finding success with this." There are certainly better ways to present it to the masses, but I'm not particularly interested as coming across as the "network marketing guy".

Here's the deal: I have been an affiliate of this company for ALMOST as long as I've been a member of the company. It's a separate cost, but I saw the value instantly. I've been an affiliate for two months now and I've yet to convince a single person to do more than chuckle at this model. I'm completely fine with this because it almost cost me $2000 to learn that I really suck at network marketing.

However, if someone were to actually join my team, they would find out that it takes a lot of inertia to even begin to get started and to stick with it for the full 30 days you pay for at the beginning. I was absolutely thrilled with this company, thrilled with my success, and still struggled to keep the energy level up to max out my first month. But I dug deep and made a point to work on this every day. See my post earlier about "you can make fun of me until I make a profit." I have my reasons for wanting success, and I'm extremely happy that there are ways to make money with this company from home, without having to sell it to anybody. That is truly great.

I've posted this before, and I'm sure it's a matter of time before google tells me they don't want these links on their blogs, but this is the video that sold me on this company: For Network Marketers. They made this to show people who are successful network marketers, but what it told me was that I actually had a chance. How amazing is that?!

In conclusion, I'm magically still involved with this company (almost two full months now) and I'm beginning to see the tide turn. I'm beginning to witness that it's not just taking my money, but actually generating money from my living room. I realize that my situation is unique, but I also realize that EVERYONE's situation is unique. If I can make money through this network marketing company as someone who really sucks at it, then I bet there are people out there who are drooling at the opportunity to do something like this.

I don't think they should give me access to a computer. I end up just typing a bunch of words.

Cheers!