The 13th chapter of Proverbs contrasts the rich and the poor, with a side contrast of righteousness and wickedness. Two passages caught my attention and should make for interesting discussions.
The first is a bit humorous:
Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing;
others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.
Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life,
but the poor get no threats. (Prov 13:7-8, NRSV)
I am reminded of the book The Millionaire Next Door, where the authors posit that rich people who flaunt their wealth are actually in the minority. Most wealthy people wouldn’t be recognizable from the rest of us. This has been my experience, and I am thankful for such positive role models that wealth needn’t puff one up. In contrast, the Brit-com Keeping Up Appearances has a great example of the opposite in “social-climbing snob” Hyacinth Bucket.
Verse 8 adds another twist to the mix. The wealthy have the means to pay their own ransom, but the poor have no need for it. Perhaps this is another argument for being less obvious with one’s wealth.
The second passage that caught my eye is the following:
Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle,
but those who gather little by little will increase it. (Prov 13:11, NRSV)
I could write a whole chapter on this. There are countless stories about lottery winners who are worse off a year later than they were before their big win. It seems that we humans rarely handle an abrupt change in socioeconomic status well. But as the saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race.”
In network marketing (and Internet marketing and affiliate marketing), some choose to market their opportunities as ways to become wealthy, the implication being that this transformation will happen virtually overnight. The proverbial “get rich quick” scheme generally produces wealth only for the schemers.
I have never presented my network marketing opportunity this way. To the contrary, I am often brutally honest in admitting that the commission checks will probably be low (or nonexistent) at first. So keep your day job! However, the only way to lose in network marketing is to quit. You really can’t help but succeed if you build your business little by little with daily activities. And as you add people to your network of distributors, then the earnings start compounding.
But the best advice I can give someone considering network marketing is simply to join a company that resonates with you. This is essentially word-of-mouth advertising that these companies are paying us for. People see through fakes right away. Find a company and a product you believe in. Then you can’t fail.
And don’t expect to get rich quick. I see people making this mistake all the time. When riches don’t appear fast enough for them, they jump ship and switch to another opportunity. Almost invariably, that one will disappoint them, and they switch to yet another, and another, and another. (Sadly, I know this from personal experience, as well.) Every time they quit, they put off their ultimate success. Fortunately, I came to my senses a few years back and have been focusing on only one network marketing opportunity. It happens to be the one I started with eight years ago. Sigh.
Instead, do your due diligence up front. I can help you with that. The good news about my sampling many opportunities is that I’ve been exposed to lots of different types of businesses. If mine does not resonate with you, I can point you in the direction of another. Contact me for a free consultation.
And add your comments below to continue the discussion.
