What people WANT

You've heard people in your company on stage, saying,
"It's not about the money." You've also heard them at
the party afterwards, saying things that strongly
suggest that it is, indeed, very much "about the
money." They're not speaking with forked tongues: both
points are correct.

Even when "It's not about The Money," believe me, it's
about The Money. And even when it is about The Money
-—it's not about The Money.

"The Money" is shorthand; it's a code for something
else. When you say, for example, "five thousand
dollars a month," you are really talking about
something entirely else -— something real. (Money is
not real.) Could be "No more debts" might be "Move to
Maui" or "Feed starving kids." Whatever is real and
meaningful to you.

It is remarkable to see how many people get stopped in
this business -— you're sitting in a gorgeous sailboat
in the middle of the lake, and suddenly all breeze
comes to a halt—because of their uneasy, ambivalent
feelings about The Money.

Perhaps the cultural roots of that ambivalence trace
back to the famous, oft-misunderstood Biblical dictum,
"the love of money is the root of all evil." That
aphorism, penned an aging Paul to a young Timothy (who
evidently had grown up without a father) has been
misquoted to death: "Money is the root of all evil."
Money: Look out! Dangerous stuff! No: it's the "love
of money," says Paul, that gets people in trouble.
(Can some sharp reader write in and tell me which
wit it was—Mark Twain? Woody Allen? Dennis Miller?—who
quipped, "Lack of money is the root of all evil."?)

"Loving The Money" means you've become captivated by
the shorthand, forgotten the reality. You're staring
at the road directions as if they were the destination
-— as the Buddhists say, you've confused the pointing
finger with the moon to which it points.

If you forget about what The Money means to you, why
it's important to you, then sooner or later, your
business will come to a grinding halt. That's true for
your people, too -— which is why it's your job as a
sponsor to know what The Money means to each person
you're working with.

What people want, changes too. This is surprisingly
easy to forget. All of a sudden, I'm using the same
shorthand ("$25,000 per month"…"financial
freedom"…"Master Blue Diamond," etc.) -— only I don't
really know what it stands for any more. I'm standing
here, knocking on the door to an exclusive club, this
guy pokes his head out and mutters, "Password?" and
I'm pretty sure I know the password -— but am not so
sure whether or not this is the door I really meant to
enter.

The truth is, achieving financial success in this
business takes tremendous persistence and endurance.
Is it worth it? Honestly, YES —- BUT YOU NEED TO HAVE
GOOD REASONS.

Your Reasons, and the results of your Reasons -— not
The Money -— are what you need to love.

John David Mann
Editor, Networking Times