Goal Setting: The Proactive Approach to Network Marketing (Part 2)

Short Term Goals: The First Person You must Recruit is Yourself

Becoming a networker is just like any other desire you may have; you must define the desire before you can hope to realize it. Therefore, the first step toward becoming a networker is to establish a picture in your mind just what a millionaire networker "you"  would look like, sound like, feel like, and even smell like. In short, you need to determine just how a millionaire "you" would appear in your own mind.

As I've said before, the image you hold of yourself is the one that others around you are most likely to perceived. Thus, the focus of this short-term goal is really upon recruiting yourself. That's the first step in recruiting someone else. I remembered when I was trying to recruit someone without even understanding the company plan myself was like... ugh.

Your short-term goal, then, is to make a commitment to become the richest, philantrophist, alluring, most charismatic and influential that you possible can. Here's how to do it:

1. State your goal to yourself. Make it very basic: "I want to become a millionaire" or "I want to become a networker." Don't worry about concrete definitions of what that means; for now, it is important only that you acknowledge that you want to achieve something.

2. Write down your goal. You'd be surprised what a difference that will make in turning your future goal into a reality.

3. Decide on a period of time in which to reach your goal. But here's the trick: Make the time period short enough that you will have to actually work toward your goal, but make it long enough to be realistic (so you won't give up before you've even begun.)

A good rule of thumb for short-term goals is to allow yourself between 30 to 90 days. That way, you will see your goal as something you can realistically complete within the time allowed, yet there will be enought time pressure to get you moving, working toward making it happen.

4. Be sure to write the time frame down alongside the goal. Now it's official: You've made a commitment to yourself, so keep that commitment!

Long-Term Goals: Recruiting Who You Want

Once you're on the way to becoming the new you, it's time to begin focusing on your second, more long-term goal. You will commit, in the next 6 to 12 months-however long you think is reasonable-to recruiting the caliber of people you're interested in joining your business.

While this may seem like its own independent exercise, remember that this goal is closely related to your short-term goal of becoming a millionaire. For one thing, you will have little luck recruiting someone of you haven't honed your networking quotient. Conversely, you will want to enhance those qualities in yourself that will be desirable to the kind of people you are looking for.

A good fisherman learns what bait works best for each kind of fish he or she wishes to catch, and uses the bait most likely to attract the fish being sought. Granted, attracting a romantic partner isn't as rudimentary as catching fish, and recruiting should be much more than bait; but the basic principle is the same for both activities.

Here's how to create your long-term goals for recruiting people:

1. Form a general picture in your mind of the kinds of people you want to recruit. At this point, don't get too specific.
2. Sit down and write out a list of their characteristics these people and why you want them on your team.
3. Imagine a type of person who passes all your critical criteria. When you get a good picture of that type in your mind, expand your mental picture a little, and imagine what that person would be doing in his or her spare time.
4. Expand that mental picture a little more, and imagine where the person would be pursuing that favored activity. You now have a clearer picture in your mind of where to find these prospects.
Finally, write down your goal: For example, "Within the next 90 days, I am going to meet at least 20 prospects and going to sponsor at least 5. To accomplish this, I will do the following..." Once again, you've made a commitment to yourself, keep it up.