This past weekend I was doing some light reading and ran across an old training series that talked about the four phases to learn anything.
No matter where you look in network marketing you’ll find so many individuals in one of these various stages or phases.
With most of network marketers falling into phase one probably the most detrimental phase to be in.
The question we have to ask ourselves is which phase am I in, and more important which phase do I want to be in. The next question is what will it take for me to progress?
What are these learning phases?
- Ignorance (Unconscious Incompetence)
- Awkwardness (Conscious Incompetence)
- Concentration (Conscious Competence)
- Mastery (Unconscious Competence)
Ignorance (Unconscious Incompetence)
We don’t even know, that we don’t know. This is where you find most network marketers today, the evidence is everywhere. Great examples are marketers on twitter, you watch individuals send out over the course of the day the same old lame posts that leads off to a landing page. Or follow me on Facebook, Squidoo, Hubspot, other social sites, or branding someone else!
No doubt this is what some perceived social media guru has taught them to do. Or they follow the advice to portray yourself as an expert “perceived authority” when you’re not! This goes right back to The Fake It Till You Make It Crowd! Yet when someone does go there, what will they find?
Or they consider that everyone who follows them is a “lead” So you feel that wow look at all these free leads I’ve created. Its like jumping into a pool of sharks, everyone there is promoting their free lead generation system.
Another common mistake from the “We don’t even know, that we don’t know” is branding someone else, instead of themselves. This is where the naivety comes in, and most haven’t a clue that they are portraying themselves as a follower not a leader, so much for the law of attraction.
It is really interesting to get an email campaign from one individual that indicates it is “on behalf of “insert someone elses name” instead of branding yourself. This is what every affiliate marketer wants, they know that when you quit, they still have your contact list, pretty smart on their part!
I was having a three-hour conversation over the weekend with an individual about search engine optimization. There are more SEO experts out there that promise you the secrets. During our conversation, I took him on a tour via Yugma, to illustrate where most of it is Crap.
Yet, each year people will spend a tremendous amount of money on newsletters, software, and even SEO experts, then end up with the same results. Just because We Don’t know, that we don’t know, we are being told and sold crap!
Awkwardness (Conscious Incompetence)
This is where we begin to discover and become painfully aware of our incompetence when it comes marketing. This is the stage where most network marketers begin to search for the shortcuts “The Secrets!” as they become painfully aware that they don’t know how to market. You’ll find no shortage of secrets at this phase, yet most of it is crap, designed to mask the real issue!
It’s no wonder people quit at this stage, it’s painfully uncomfortable, and everyone hates rejection. So you’ll do almost anything to avoid this. We’ve all been taught to create our list right? Yet, no one has really advised us how to use that list of family and friends, or how to properly qualify a prospect!
This is the stage that will make or break your business, it is a mile stone that you must cross, if you hope to ever become successful!
Concentration (Conscious Competence)
This is the stage when you make the conscious decision to become your own master, not a clone! You are finally starting to figure it out, but it requires a tremendous amount of effort to stay focussed. We have to make a conscious effort to avoid heading down another rabbit trail.
It is at this point that when you get an email like this “Pssst Something Big is Coming” you know it’s another way to siphon money out of your wallet or purse and distract you from your real goal.
Yet this phase requires the most discipline and it is when we finally begin to start putting together that team we’ve always sought, you are becoming the leader that people want to follow.
It is unimportant at this stage where a lead comes from, warm market, cold market, self-generated or heaven forbids purchased. You’ve made an effort to learn what it really takes to succeed, no hype, and no false pretenses!
Mastery (Unconscious Competence)
This is the stage that all of us strive to achieve in network marketing. We’ve become naturals, we no longer have to think carefully what we say when talking to any prospect. We’ve learned the most important lessons in communications skills and can apply them easily.
What used to be difficult, now comes naturally and effortlessly, now it is actually fun. We know that the journey to get here was not easy, full of potholes and other obstacles on the road to success. We know more people have risen to the highest levels in their companies, simply because they where great communicators, and we pass that knowledge and encouragement on.
Related PostsThe key to achieving it?
One must decide to be their own Master!
