The Liability of Preconceptions

This will all make sense at the end...

Preconceptions and predispositions relate to opinions and attitudes.  Both attitudes and opinions can be thought of on a linear scale from negative to neutral to positive.  In our industry, we deal with preconceptions, all day - every day.  

To drill down one level deeper, an attitude is an established (predisposed) way of thinking about someone or something.  It exists as something that is pre-verbal.  It is also known as a mindset.  Everyone has attitudes and opinions that are a matter of degree - in someone's willingness to speak up (or) remain silent.  Either way, attitudes and opinions exist.

As stated, once an attitude is articulated into words, it becomes an opinion.  The important thing to understand is that an opinion is something that is not necessarily based on facts or knowledge.  

OK...  So, what is the point here...

We build organizations in the context of person-to-person commerce.  We use Affiliate Offers to create a residual income engine.  This is not akin to anything.  It is its own "animal".  We are in the Network Marketing Space because we do build networks based on our marketing efforts.  However, we ARE NOT in the MLM space.  Multi-Level Marketing uses a completely different compensation and organizational structure, although they too are a Network Marketing business as they employ marketing to build networks (organizations).

The liability we have in our business is that people "meet" what we do with a whole host of preconceptions and misconceptions.  Fair or unfair, it is the reality.  We are lumped in with MLM's like one of those "pyramid things".  The fact is, we are not a pyramid-like most conventional businesses, we utilize Referral Lines.  These are vastly different.

The real liability here is yours if you do not understand the difference (and) have the ability to explain and differentiate between the two.

Be the One They Choose to Work With

You can't blink credibility into existence.  It needs to be scraped and clawed for through the passage of time.  

Therefore, for anyone new to Affiliate Marketing (in our niche and the way we do it) this is the reason we recruit people with whom you have something in common, with the supposition that they may not have a deep credibility base in our industry either.  Historically, this is why ventures typically fail.  It is a matter of the blind leading the blind.  With Vertical Industry Marketing, we start with our Relationship Building Accelerator and, (at least) we develop an understanding of each others' lived experience (as best we can).

So, this begs the question, "What sets you apart from the pack?"  What makes you exceptional to the extent that someone would want to choose you as the person they want to work with?   Especially if you are just getting started, you may think there is nothing that makes you "special".

I want to challenge this notion.  Our model is intentionally highly selective.  We screen and choose people we want to work with.  We ARE NOT in the business of taking people's money, letting them fend for themselves, flailing around, and finally fail-out.

You need to own and understand that someone will "choose you" because of their gut telling them you are sincere and committed to helping them grow into profitability, through their growth - both personally and professionally.  People will choose to work with you because they can sense you have integrity and are worthy of earning their trust.

Over time and as your organization grows, at some future date, your credibility (based on your body of work) will become implicit.  You will be a known quantity in our industry.

However, getting to that point is really a matter of mindset.  It is in the "knowing" of who you are, what you stand for, how you conduct yourself... in posturing yourself as "being the one they choose to work with".