I came home after my first Network Marketing business presentation all excited I manifested the vehicle to my Dreams looked into the mirror and told my self I would never quit or even think about quitting. I would persist until I succeeded….
My next obstacle was my wife I was relatively newly married and had a 1 year old son. I knew that with all my heart that I needed the support of my partner in life however, I could not even imagine the commitment that was needed to succeed. I sat with her and told her that I don’t need her support but I would love it, I was going to do this and succeed with or without her support.
She felt my commitment, my stubborness I was doing it for my DREAMS of our family. She could not say no!!!
When I started to travel for business it was not easy leaving her at home with our young kids it was hard on her but I made a promise to her that I would never book a trip more than 7 days and miss any birthdays etc…. For the most part I kept that promise a couple of times due to travel schedules just was not possible.
I have witnessed many a divorce in our industry particularly with top leaders and in lieu of high profile Divorces with the Gates and Bezos it is difficult at the best of times to have that balance, here are some reasons why Divorces become an end result in the industry of Network marketing
1) Leaders who had a good to great run of 6 or 7 figure income and then got in to jumping around from company and company trying to regain the income they did in that magical run/financial distress – never attaining the freedom of residual income /financial plan
2) – The 100% support was never given from the beginning and communicated
3) a Family plan of balance.
4) Values of both partners are never communicated and worked on …
If you are starting in the industry or you are moving up in rank in your company becoming a 10% income earner your balance in family life will be challenged, many conflicts will come about . Most understand that nothing is more important than family however, when you are driven, when you have fallen in LOVE with your DREAM balance becomes the most difficult thing to accomplish.
Suggestions –
– Have a serious talk with your spouse, partner like I did share your commitment let them know it’s important to have their support but you don’t need it….
– Schedule family time. For example what I did is use my planner from Sunday to Sunday and scheduled my family time with my wife. This was hard to do as I thrived as a spontaneous person but it saved so many Potential conflicts…
-travel set a commitment and goal never to be away from home for a certain period and never miss special family events.. Many will say you have to pay the price for success do not make your family pay the price its a simple error in judgement that will catch up to you negatively.
– Have a financial plan. What we did is we got to a lifestyle we were comfortable with and invested the rest making more residual income. Many of the toys Network Marketers purchase gets them into trouble as they become losing assets. Most of the time they are purchased to show people they are successful which becomes a simple error in judgement. I saved 10% of my commissions, 10% for my Kids College , put away a percentage for taxes…. we had a 10% fund for fun as a family. Looking back the best investments I made was in the area of exotic family vacations , the countries we visited were FOOD for our marriage and family life..
– Involve your spouse/partner as much as you can even if they don’t want to be a part of the action part of the business find ways where you can involve them. Every little thing count.
– Ask your spouse/partner to write down the top 10 values they have and compare it to yours. This exercise can be a relationship blessing understanding what is important to your spouse/partner.
This year my wife and I are celebrating our 33rd anniversary most of them have been in my network marketing career we know nothing else, our marriage has thrived in all ways and I attribute that to the steps I have shared above.