Three Months – Do You Think That Is Enough? (written September, 1996)
Just got a telephone call from a very nice women from Colorado yesterday. I won’t mention her name but here is a synapses of what she said to me: “Larry, I am new to the industry and I have tried a couple of programs and failed but I am trying another program and I am going to give it three months to see if I will succeed and if I don’t, I am quitting this business”. That is what she said more or less. What’s wrong with this very nice women’s philosophy that I hear over and over again from so many of you good people?
Let me end the suspense. Do you really think three months is enough of a commitment to make if you really want to succeed in a business venture – any business venture? Let me lay some ground work first. #1 Most of you want to earn some extra income because your current life style is not satisfying to you. #2) You really do not have much money to spend or lose. #3) You really do not have a heck of a lot of time to spend either. #4) Your present state of dissatisfaction was not done overnight. It took some years getting there. Most of you good people fall into these 4 categories.
Not that I like grouping people together, but most of you fall into one or more of these categories. So let’s take a look at some of this in more detail. Most of you wish to better your lifestyle. That is excellent, but we have to be realistic. Can you wake up tomorrow morning and change the way you have been for how many years now? Obviously not. That is common sense. Then why do so many of you give yourself, the program you are promoting, and the people trying to help you such little time as three months? Read or listen to any motivational material for anything that needs to be accomplished in this world and the #1 ingredient is commitment. Is three months a real commitment? FYI – I recently placed an ad with a major league publication for their November issue which mails October 1st. The deadline date is August 15th. This publication needs six weeks preparation before it is actually mailed. Then it will take another 2-3 weeks to be delivered. That is roughly 8 weeks before I will even get a lead – then I have to follow up the lead. Without going through the lead generating and follow up process, before I even got the lead, it took up to 8 weeks and even more. My money and my advertising is tied up for 8 weeks minimum! If I were committed to three months, where would I be now that I placed an ad in this publication? Nowhere fast, like so many of you are. Even though you do it to yourselves – unintentionally – it is very disappointing for me to see this pattern over and over again and again.
In addition if you don’t want to spend a lot of money, nor a lot of time promoting any one program, then you have to sacrifice something – that is “time to succeed”. Which is no problem as long as you understand it will take a little longer. If an Olympic Diver practiced for an hour a day, don’t you think it would take longer for him to succeed than if he practiced ten hours a day? When I started in this business, I worked and worked and worked long hours – and I worked a full time job as well. That is because I was committed to succeed and I wasn’t going to let anything get into my way. I stuck with it in the face of adversity- that is a fact I am very proud of that fact. You will be too when you allow yourself enough time to succeed.
It took me 14 months before I had a profitable month – and that month I made $55 profit – for the whole month!! I am more proud of that particular $55 than any other money I ever made!! I will tell you that!! But along the way, it was discouraging – very discouraging because I really didn’t know what I was doing. I think that is the problem with many of you. You really don’t know what you are doing nor do you know what to expect. Let me put it this way. It took you how many years to get to where you are now? It isn’t going to change overnight. So invest wisely. Invest slowly. Your best investment is in yourself. Learn what this business is all about before you jump into something full tilt and then give yourself more than a couple of months to succeed.
No matter what you read – no matter what people tell you – you will not make money – real large amounts of money – in just a few months. It just won’t happen. Never has happened. Your goal should be to breakeven as quickly as you can – within a few months – and then learn about this incredible business of ours as fast as you can. Soak up all the informative articles in all the informative publications that are out there. None of them ever preach overnight success. Just be realistic and give yourself a real commitment of at least one year to succeed with any program before you discard it as garbage. Long ago, I joined a great MLM Program. The problem was that for the first few months I did nothing. So after being involved with it for 5 months, all I did was buy their product and got nothing in return. Of course I deserved nothing, but many of us at that particular moment forget what we deserve and only remember what we want. After 5 months went by, I called my sponsor and complained a little and he set me straight. I did nothing. I deserve nothing!! He was right. So at that point I copied a flyer that the company provided to its hundreds of thousands of distributors and mailed out 75,000 over the next 9 months – about 8,000 a month. Do you know how many people joined? One. One out of 75,000!! So at this point after 14 months in the program and 75,000 of their flyers out in the mails and getting only one, I could have quit. If I did, no one would have blamed me either. All the money I spent would have went to waste never to be made back, but you know what, I am glad I didn’t quit. Because through my disappointment, adversity and disgust, I developed a new flyer exclusive to just my group and you know what? Ten thousand distributors later, I can truly say that I am living proof of what I am preaching to you. Don’t give yourself a weak commitment. You’ll never succeed at anything – especially this fabulous business!!
The author of this article is Larry Costello, President of All-American Print & Mail, 2200 Wilson Blvd #102-57, Arlington, VA 22201.