Moral
Compensation
Interview with Bob Proctor
By John Milton
Fogg
I've written (and said) many
times that everything I know about Network Marketing I learned from somebody
else. I love learning and I love learners-- those thinking men and women whose
lives are devoted to knowledge. And I've never met a learner who didn't give
more than he got. Such is the case with Bob Proctor-- he is a master student,
and more, a master of a teacher.
I take notes when Bob speaks
(and I usually never do that), because there're always three or five insightful,
thought-provoking, immediately useful things he says that I don't ever want to
forget.
Since the following interview
is already written down for you, you don't have to take notes. But I'd sure
recommend reading with a high-lighter in hand. As usual, when Proctor speaks,
leaders listen. Enjoy
-- JMF
Robert, you have an extensive background in corporate America, in
teaching and training those people. What attracted you into Network
Marketing?
A doctor I have tremendous
respect for got involved with a Network Marketing company. It was seeing his
picture in a Network Marketing magazine that brought the industry to my
attention and caused me to take a look at it from a totally different
perspective.
What was the basis of your respect for him?
I've
studied the mind for approximately 40 years, and he probably taught me more
about the mind than any other individual. He knows more about the mind than
anyone I've ever met, or even read about. He's not a money guy, he's involved in
the healing arts, so when I saw his picture attached with this company, I
thought "There has to be something here that I don't understand." So I decided
to look into it.
When I did, my whole
perspective of the industry changed. I think I'm like an awful lot of people in
that I didn't understand it but thought I did. If someone had asked me to
explain Network Marketing, I would have been at a loss to explain it. And yet,
if you had said, "Do you understand it?" I would have said, "Sure" when the
truth is, I didn't.
Did you have a negative
impression of it, Bob?
I don't
think I had a negative or positive impression. It was more disinterest than
anything. I often say "I was caught in my own trap." I have taught in numerous
programs that anything we don't understand we have a tendency to criticize and
ridicule carelessly.
What did you find when you
started looking?
I found
that, all things being equal-- good company, good product-- it's probably the
most moral form of compensation I have ever seen. And I've studied a lot of
them. I believe that the whole universe operates in an orderly manner, and
Network Marketing operates more in harmony with the laws of the universe than
any other business I've seen. A person truly receives exactly what he's worth.
No nepotism, no favoritism. I find that rather unusual in the business
world.
What are some of the laws
you're referring to, and how does Network Marketing honor them?
Well, for
example, the law of cause and effect-- which is one of the laws in the
universe-- clearly states that energy returns to its source of origination. Or
in more familiar terms, what you sow, you reap. Action and reaction are equal
and opposite. This business is so perfectly aligned with that principle. If a
person puts the effort out, it does come back. People are recognized for their
efforts-- recognition is a big part of it, and compensation is a big part of
it.
I see that there are two
sources of income in life, one psychic, one material. The psychic income is the
satisfaction we get from how we spend our days. We should earn enough money to
provide the things we want and live the way we choose. Network Marketing, for
the most part, offers that person the opportunity for both.
The people I've observed who
are successful in this industry truly love what they are doing. Once they
understand the system, away they go-- helping others understand it, too. Keep in
mind that there are a lot of people who are not successful, but that's their own
fault. Another unusual characteristic of Network Marketing is the seemingly
small distance from the bottom to the top.
Can you say more about that,
because a common criticism of this industry, Bob, is that there are just a few
people at the top while most people are struggling.
That is
something that people say, and yet, if you ask them to explain it, they're
unable to. Again, what we don't understand we have a tendency to criticize and
ridicule. I was probably guilty of that. I got up and said that I didn't know
anyone who was earning any money. Well, I really didn't know that many people
involved in Network Marketing at all. There were passing acquaintances, but I
certainly didn't know what they were earning.
I've since found out, of
course, that there are a lot of people earning great money in Network Marketing.
My wife has been very successful, and she's having an awful lot of fun at it. I
spend almost all of my time working in this industry now because I enjoy working
with Network Marketers so much. I still do some work outside, and it's not that
I couldn't do more, I just don't really have a desire to.
Bob, besides the moral
quality that you've already spoken about in the structure of Network Marketing,
what other differences do you see between Network Marketing and a conventional
business?
The
difference is like night and day. It's paradoxical, really-- people who do not
understand Network Marketing point at it as a pyramid, when the truth is that
they are probably involved in something that truly is a pyramid!
All business is shaped like a
pyramid, but the difference is that in Network Marketing, everybody is at the
top of their own pyramid. In corporate America, that's not the way it is. A good
example of a pyramid is a Canadian bank. There are only half a dozen banks in
Canada, and the people at the top all earn in the millions, while the teller
probably earns $20-25,000 a year, with very little hope of getting to
$35,000.
A person can sit down and draw
her own star, then go and get it in Network Marketing. On top of that, she'll
get help-- in Network Marketing, everyone wants to help everyone. That isn't the
case outside this business.
In Network Marketing, a person
has the opportunity for expansion and fuller expression. In other words, his
life can continually improve. There seems to be no end to it. I've only been
around the industry for a little over three years, but I'm absolutely fascinated
with it. People naturally want to expand and express and grow-- the corporate
structure impedes that growth, while Network Marketing supports it. In fact,
it's to the advantage of the people above you to help you grow.
Bob, in looking at the
uniqueness of this business, what are some of those challenges that Network
Marketers face?
I think
the biggest challenge a Network Marketer faces is the paradigm shift that they
have to make themselves. Second is learning how to present the opportunity to
someone in such a way that enables that person to make a paradigm shift,
too.
We're conditioned genetically;
we're conditioned environmentally. Like the old economy -- if you look at it as
the old economy and the new economy. The old economy deals with competition. I
think a good example is if you had a pie, and the pie is cut up, and you get a
piece, I get a piece, maybe six other people get a piece. If I want more of that
pie, I've got to outwit, out-market, or out-sell you, or out-scheme you. For me
to have more pie, you're going to have to have less. We're dealing with a
limited supply.
In Network Marketing, which I
believe is the distribution system that is ushering in the new economy, a person
is dealing with an infinite supply, which is in line with spiritual laws. There
is no limit. So the person says, "If I want more pie, I'll make a bigger pie,
and I'll make you aware of how I am enjoying more pie, so you can, too." It is
the most phenomenal system, and it just keeps getting better, because you become
more and more aware of the truth of it.
What kind of difficulties
does that present for somebody who, say, came out of a corporate environment
where the rules of the game are different?
I'll give
you a good example for your readers to try. Question to the readers: are you
right-handed, or left-handed? Okay, now I'm going to ask you to sign your name.
Sign your name on a piece of paper. Now put the pen in your other hand. Don't
just read this -- put your pen in your other hand.
You can feel the tension
building in your body. Your mind reacts to it. You think "I don't write with my
left hand. This is so uncomfortable. It's so cumbersome. I'm going to make such
a mess. I'm going to make myself look foolish, and what will my neighbor say?"
We're not programmed to write with our other hand.
People are programmed to live a
certain way. What we're saying is change the programming. It's like learning a
new language. It's almost as if you go home and your family doesn't speak
English any longer, but French or Spanish. Eventually, you would learn what they
are saying, but it would be extremely difficult and very stressful at the
beginning.
Can you speak about the
things that need to be reprogrammed, specifically, Bob, or give us some examples
of things?
We have
to begin by understanding ourselves, and improving our self-esteem. We've been
raised to be dependent on the corporation, the boss, the company. We're
programmed to believe that if you go to school, get a good education and a job
in a big company, that you're safe. Of course everyone knows that that's not
true. People have been being laid off, downsized, reengineered, or fired by the
hundreds of thousands-- many are walking the street wondering what's
happened.
We're living in a new economy.
The world has shifted-- I believe it's aligning itself more with the universal
laws. See, there's a bigger gap today between the haves and the have-nots than
there ever has been before, and it's getting wider. In a recent article in the
Toronto Daily Star, they pointed out that the top ten percent of income earners
are earning 314 times what the bottom ten percent are earning. The people on the
bottom haven't even a hope of how to get to the top, and the old system isn't
going to help them.
Network Marketing clearly
explains how you get to the top. The intellect can understand that-- "I know I
can get to the top. Now I've got to change that emotional, conditioned mind of
mine." That's harder, but people care and want to help you make the transition.
There are some absolutely brilliant people who intellectually understand it, and
yet don't make it. They don't make it because they never get that paradigm
changed. I think there has to be more education in that area. Network Marketing
is still new enough that it has not come together for the development of people
yet-- and it may not for a few more years. It's in an evolutionary state. There
has to be more focus on helping the individual change her subjective
conditioning. People have a difficult time grasping it, so they
struggle.
You see, wealthy people have
always had multiple sources of income. I believe that wealth is a very real part
of life-- it has to be addressed and understood. A person cannot live a full
life if he doesn't have any money, because we use money for things, and we need
things for the development of our potential. I have been teaching people that
they must have multiple sources of income if they are going to accumulate any
wealth-- not just one source. It won't work.
The beautiful part about
Network Marketing is you set up multiple sources of income with each person you
bring in. So in a relatively short period of time, I could have two or three
thousand sources of income. Makes a difference in a person's life.
Which speaks to the business
of leverage.
Absolutely. There are three income earning strategies: M1, M2, and
M3.
M1 is trading our time for
money. Approximately 95 to 96 percent of the population does that. It has an
inherent problem called saturation.
What do you mean the
inherent problem is "saturation"?
You run
out of time. You only have so much time, and if you're trading your time for
money, you obviously have a ceiling on what you can earn. Doctors are realizing
that today. The doctor has to spend more time to earn less money. So does a
laborer. So does a lawyer-- chargeable hours are the most important words in a
lawyer's vocabulary. That's the M1 strategy that school teaches us and that
we've observed our parents' involvement with, for the most part.
If a person becomes wealthy on
the M1 strategy, it's at the expense of a life. They've compromised on the car
they drive, the home that they live in, the vacations they take, the school they
give their kids, the clothes they wear, because they need the money to
live.
M2 is an excellent strategy--
investing money to earn money. Those who understand it know that leverage is a
great way to work the M2 strategy. There're only three people out of 100,
though, who understand, and some of those aren't very good at it.
Now, M3 is, without question,
the strategy that wealthy people have always used. It's a strategy of leverage.
Approximately one percent of the population uses this strategy, but they earn
around 96 percent of all the money that is earned. M3 is multiplying your time
through the efforts of others, by setting up multiple sources of income. It's a
phenomenal strategy, and Network Marketing is tuned into it.
Earning money has absolutely
nothing to do with work. This is the real paradox.
Say more about that,
please.
Napoleon Hill, who probably taught us as much about earning money and wealthy people as
anyone, said, "If you are one of those people who believes that hard work and
honesty alone will bring riches, perish the thought, because it's not true.
Riches come, if they come at all, in response to definite demands, based upon
the application of definite principles, and not by chance or luck."
Now, let's take what he's
saying and relate it to Network Marketing-- "Riches come, if they come at all,
in response to definite demands based upon the application of definite
principles, and not by chance or luck." Is there a demand for someone who can
show that 96 percent, the people who are feverishly involved in a losing
proposition in the M1 income earning strategy, how to move to M3?
Is there a demand for someone
to show an individual how to close the gap between the haves and the
have-nots?
I think there's a screaming
demand for it, and it's something that Network Marketing does. We show them how
to close the gap. We show them how to spend their days doing the things that
they really love doing, and at the same time, earn the amount of money they need
to live the way they choose to live.
I don't think we're made for
work, I believe that work is made for us. I work every day, but I never look at
it as work, because I absolutely love what I'm doing. I find it amusing that I
get paid so well at times. I would do it for nothing, because I absolutely love
it. Love is harmony-- it's when your conscious mind, your sub-conscious, and
your body are all in sync, and you truly love what you're doing.
Are you willing to talk to
me about the role of love in Network Marketing?
Sure --
that's a subject that people should spend a little more time with. I see love as
resonance. It's harmony. People who are in love with helping people are huge
winners. You see that proven in Network Marketing all the time-- the big winners
in Network Marketing love watching a person wake up. They love watching them
win.
I watched a couple being
recognized recently-- they stood before the audience and said that they had been
married for 13 years, and got a divorce. They stayed in touch because of the
kids. One of them got involved in a Network Marketing company and got the other
one involved, too. It ended up bringing them back together-- after three and a
half years apart. They're happily married again now. Those people love what
they're doing, they love each other, and they love helping other people. And who
do you think likely received the greatest reward, the most satisfaction? The
person who sponsored them. That's the biggest reward for people-- helping others
win.
BOB
PROCTOR is the publisher of Networking Times. He is also an author, lecturer,
counselor, business consultant, entrepreneur and teacher preaching the gospel of
positive thinking, self-motivation and maximizing human potential. He has
conducted seminars, speeches and consultations for Prudential Insurance, Procter
& Gamble, United Way, National Speakers Association, Quaker Oats, to name a
few of the most familiar, as well as Network Marketing companies. He is the
author of the best-selling book You Were Born Rich and The Winner's
Image, The Goal Achiever and The Winner's Circle series, among
other titles
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