Direct selling and entrepreneurship: Mistakes to avoid

Most of us would love to be our own boss. Many of us dream to one day own a business, be financially independent and be rich. Most youngsters today dream of being an entrepreneur and this can be seen in the number of new business ventures being started. Gone are the days when starting a business required you to invest large sums of money on infrastructure and marketing. With direct selling businesses on the rise, anyone can be their own boss and start a profitable business with just the help of a laptop, a mobile phone and a working internet connection.

However, not all of these businesses may survive. Statistics say that only one in 10 business succeeds, with the other 9 closing down in the first few years. The same statistics hold true for direct selling businesses as well. Therefore, it is important that you learn from the past failure of others and follow the rules that helped the 10 per cent succeed.

After talking to some leaders in the direct selling industry who has managed to weather the initial storm and succeeded in making a direct selling empire, I have compiled some things that everyone who wishes to venture into the field must keep in mind and some mistakes that they should avoid.

Building the foundation

Building your sales team and a network of customers does not mean that your work is done. It is far too early for you to expect that you will be sipping champagne on the beach while your bank account overflows with cash. It is just the first step in a long series of processes towards building a business empire.

It is important that you take the time and effort to build the foundation for your network marketing business. This includes building communication skills, social media presence and the art of making the sale, among others. It is true that you can learn a lot by reading books or attending educational seminars and conferences. But that is just like learning to swim by reading about it. For you to be able to properly utilise the skills that you have learned, it is important that you apply it in real-life situations and learn from the experience.

Not giving-up

The first few years of your direct selling business will be the hardest. But it is also the most crucial. You will be faced with a lot of negativity and criticism. You will also have to face a lot of rejections as you try to convince people to buy your product. It is extremely important that you do not give up and continue your efforts. Remember, Rome was not built in one day.

Changing with the times

As a direct seller, it is important that you adapt to the times and change your strategy to best fit the current climate. It is one of the main reasons that the direct selling industry was able to reduce the impact the global pandemic had on it.

Direct sellers were able to continue on with their business as usual even when the rest of the world had to shut down due to the COVID19 scare as they were able to adapt and use social media and technology to continue their business.

E-commerce and direct selling are set to take a bigger leap in popularity as more and more people are becoming hesitant to go to stores to buy products. This is exactly the kind of situation where direct selling grows and becomes widespread.

Everyone dreams of being their own boss and building a business empire from scratch. While there is a lot more to running a successful direct selling business, keeping these lessons in mind can help you have a head start in the game and avoid the failures that happened to others who were less prepared.