Affiliate since: 05/03/2002, Power Rank: 317 | Read Mar's 582 other Ask SC answers

As a Team Leader, I have set a goal to sponsor certain number of new affiliates every month. I have no idea about the background of my newly sign ups. I believe that the majority of them came into network marketing with an “employee mentality”. Understanding the “employee mentality” will give you an advantage on how to build a close relationship with them and turn them around to a “business owner mentality”.

Identifying the employee mentality:

- An individual who has been employee all his/her life will expect to be guided, trained, and told what to do and to be followed upon.

- He/she looks for incentives from his/her sponsor/upline so he/she can get motivated to get things done. No incentive, nothing will be done.

- If he/she has no contact from his/her sponsor/upline, he/she will most likely give up and quit.

Identifying the business owner mentality:

SFI has put into place a structure to educate new SFI affiliates. Beginning from SFI BASICS, Launchpad, Marketing, Power Tools and so on a new affiliate can avail of these invaluable resources for starting and growing his/her SFI business. In network marketing like SFI:

- You are the boss, you set up your plans and goals for your SFI business and you direct yourself to implement your business strategy.

- You are your own motivator

- You are your own incentive system
Knowing these two types of mentality in network marketing beforehand will help you tremendously in dealing with your affiliates, especially your new ones.

Here’s how to turn your affiliates with an ‘employee mentality’ to a ‘business owner mentality’:

- Emphasize to them in the firsthand that as SFI business owner, they should never depend on someone else’s leadership style, involvement, rank or connection to you.

- They should take full responsibility for their training, motivating and promoting themselves. They should realize that when they rely on their own, any help from sponsor/upline is a bonus in growing their SFI business. As a result, they won’t be let down by those who sponsored them and then take off.

- Communicate to them clearly as business owners; they are not dependent on what others can do for them, but what they can do for themselves.

- Finally, encourage them to stand up strong and create their own vision. Don’t wait for someone to tell them what to do.

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As a Team Leader, I have set a goal to sponsor certain number of new affiliates every month. I have no idea about the background of my newly sign ups. I believe that the majority of them came into network marketing with an “employee mentality”. Understanding the “employee mentality” will give you an advantage on how to build a close relationship with them and turn them around to a “business owner mentality”.

Identifying the employee mentality:

- An individual who
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Affiliate since: 05/05/2004, Power Rank: 224 | Read Robertson's 212 other Ask SC answers

Business owner mentality has to be ingrained in the minds of affiliates. Team Leaders must play a role in changing this mindset from employee to business owner mentality. Team Leaders should nurture business owner mentality with their PSAs.

Your SFI business is no different from any other business model and the business offers a long term financial solution.

Affiliates should be told that SFI is their business and they are taking ownership of their income with a good work ethic and commitment.

Business ownership can be very rewarding if affiliates choose the mentality in developing SFI as their own business and take charge of SFI as their business entity.
Affiliates need to be told do away with the “employee mentality”, be open minded and think “out of the box”.

As a business owner you can be mentally tough. Business owners embrace failure and failure is one of the ways to learn how to be successful in your SFI business.

Team Leaders need to tell their PSAs to look at the big picture. Success in your SFI business is based on your effort and commitment. It is your responsibility to make your SFI business successful and nobody can do this for you.

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Business owner mentality has to be ingrained in the minds of affiliates. Team Leaders must play a role in changing this mindset from employee to business owner mentality. Team Leaders should nurture business owner mentality with their PSAs.

Your SFI business is no different from any other business model and the business offers a long term financial solution.

Affiliates should be told that SFI is their business and they are taking ownership of their income with a good work ethic
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Affiliate since: 01/14/2013, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Sule's 287 other Ask SC answers

Great question! Affiliates with employee mentality always want to get paid before rendering a service whereas those with business owner mentality always want to add value or render a service first before any rewards. With this distinction, it is easy to work on affiliates to turn around their mind sets. In that quest, here is what best you can do.

1. Talk them into accepting delayed gratification as against instant gratification.
2. Get them to work to render a service first to get rewarded later.
3. Show them the benefits of being their own bosses.
4. Let them see why it is better to be employers instead of employees.
5. Let them know that as business owners they have no fear of being fired.
6. Let them know that employees are a dime-a-dozen while employers are fewer and in a select club.
7. Let them know that employees have fixed remunerations whereas business owners have unlimited earnings.
8. Let them know that employees make money only when they work whereas a business owner earns residual income.
9. Tell them that an employee is only an asset in the system while the business owner owns the system.
10. Let them know that a business owner earns from his/her investments while an employee earns only by selling his/her labor.
11. Tell them that business ownership confers unlimited power whereas employees have very limited power.
12. Let them know that employers give Instructions/Directives whereas employees take Instructions/Directives.
13. Show them how employers lead while employees follow.
14. Show them the advantages of working to earn as against earning to work.

For these and many other reasons too numerous to mention here, your affiliates can easily see that it is best for them to see their SFI business like a business and to treat it as such. That is the best way for them only if they but knew.

Best wishes.


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Great question! Affiliates with employee mentality always want to get paid before rendering a service whereas those with business owner mentality always want to add value or render a service first before any rewards. With this distinction, it is easy to work on affiliates to turn around their mind sets. In that quest, here is what best you can do.

1. Talk them into accepting delayed gratification as against instant gratification.
2. Get them to work to render a service first to get
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Affiliate since: 02/16/2014, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Philippus's 100 other Ask SC answers

Firstly, when advertising this opportunity, don’t refer to it as a job offer, but as a business opportunity. Prospects must know upfront that they are not applying for a job with a salary and set working hours and a boss, but for a an opportunity to own and manage their own business where they are their own boss and work wherever and whenever they want. You have that freedom, but also the responsibility.

Secondly, when someone enroll, you as their sponsor, must send them a welcome message, where you explain how the business works and follow that up with more messages, emails, stream posts, newsletters, etc. where you teach them further how this business works. This business work by sponsoring PSA’s and duplication, that meaning teaching your PSA’s to do what you do. But bottom line is that this is a marketing business where you have to sell the business and the products at TripleClicks and teach your PSA’s to do the same.

Thirdly, be an example. Do all the tasks expected of you as the owner of this business, get as much as possible VP and badges and teach your down-line to do the same.

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Firstly, when advertising this opportunity, don’t refer to it as a job offer, but as a business opportunity. Prospects must know upfront that they are not applying for a job with a salary and set working hours and a boss, but for a an opportunity to own and manage their own business where they are their own boss and work wherever and whenever they want. You have that freedom, but also the responsibility.

Secondly, when someone enroll, you as their sponsor, must send them a welcome message,
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Affiliate since: 04/13/2012, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Andrew's 330 other Ask SC answers

There is no easy answer when it comes to changing one's mental outlook.

The affiliate must choose to look at this business as a business and not a hobby.

The affiliate must choose to commit time, money, and more time to their business.

The affiliate alone can choose to take ownership in their results. To be the person where the buck stops here. They must accept their failures as stepping stones to their success and know that it is them and not anyone else that is responsible for growing their business.

SFI can not guarantee your success.

Your Sponsor can not guarantee your success.

Your surroundings, culture, friend, church, financial status and education do not determine your success because no matter how bad your life is someone in worse shape than you has made it.

There are people with no limbs who go on to do great things like Stephen Hawking, who talks through a computer and get's around through power of machines due to total paralysis. If he can be a success in life I guarantee you can.

You must learn about SFI. Know your business.

You must take ownership in the results of your labor and strive for more.

You must train your mind to desire success as much as you need to breath.
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There is no easy answer when it comes to changing one's mental outlook.

The affiliate must choose to look at this business as a business and not a hobby.

The affiliate must choose to commit time, money, and more time to their business.

The affiliate alone can choose to take ownership in their results. To be the person where the buck stops here. They must accept their failures as stepping stones to their success and know that it is them and not anyone else that is
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Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Here is what I would recommend - as it is my own journey.

1. First, if you hope to change someone's mentality or their approach to the business you must understand their motivations for joining SFI in the first place. Are they only looking for part-time income? Are they seeking a full-time job replacement, at least on an income basis? These two examples alone are very different - someone looking for part-time, supplemental income will likely never have the true entrepreneurial mindset. And that's ok - it doesn't mean these folks aren't right for the SFI business. Rather, they will never dedicate themselves like a full-timer, entrepreneurial-minded individual might.

2. Second, you need to understand that individual's mindset. Why does he or she think like an employee? Is it because of how that person was raised? Or is it because of values they have developed over the course of their working career? Ingrained values that might be part of someone's upbringing are harder - though not impossible - to change than those developed over the course of a career where one begins to feel "beaten down".

3. Third, have you demonstrated value? This is key. Even an "entrepreneur" won't work for something if he or she sees no value in it. My advice would be to boil down exactly how SFI will work for your prospects or new PSAs/CSAs. If you are already successful, share your own success story and the steps you took. And - and this is very important! - stress the need to for initiative and independent working rather than reliance on you, the sponsor.

I hope these tips help. Not everyone is willing to change their mindsets. But many can be convinced to do so! :)
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Here is what I would recommend - as it is my own journey.

1. First, if you hope to change someone's mentality or their approach to the business you must understand their motivations for joining SFI in the first place. Are they only looking for part-time income? Are they seeking a full-time job replacement, at least on an income basis? These two examples alone are very different - someone looking for part-time, supplemental income will likely never have the true entrepreneurial mindset.
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Affiliate since: 04/02/2014, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Anja's 41 other Ask SC answers

An employee mentality is quite stubborn, it hinders you from taking your own stance in SFI and to make use of all the opportunities.

It is best to tackle this while the affiliate is still new. He/She needs to know that this SFI business will be his own business and that you are just his mentor. Also you yourself need to build up the mentality to be a mentor and not an employer to your downline.

What everyone needs to know:

Ones advices and teachings as a mentor can be quite similiar to that of an employer: you do want your downline to duplicate you, to copy your actions, thus they will recieve a similiar pay when they are successful in using your methods.

What is the difference then? The mentality, methods, advice and the goal within a company itself.

-> Teaching Success vs teaching hard work. A mentor gives out much more specific advice to its students than an employer will ever do. He proudly sees the success of his students as his own.
Do you know of employers that will teach you everything about THEIR business? They won't because they won't rise the competition unnecessarily.

-> Individual methods vs tasks and methodcopying
An employer just asks for duplication and hard work, he doesn't explain much how and why the things work as they do for you. A different approach of the downline is mostly disliked because the employer wants to have the upper hand in every little action. He would feel like losing the forehand otherway.
The mentor works directly on finding the best paths for his individual students even if the answer to the question does not meet with their own actions. He is respected for his shared knowledge and is also known to look at all the sides of a coin (not just front and back, but also the coin edge and specific designs and materials of each) to be able to give the best of teachings.

-> Growth vs achievement
At a normal job everything that counts at the end of the day is what you achieved at the end of your task. Growth is not the goal just a more or less necessary means to finish the work - an unnecessary limitation of oneself in SFI.
The mentor takes the growth itself as goal: if even one of his students was motivated to surpass him in growth and achieve even greater heights, it will be the mentors ultimate bliss. Restrictions will only hinder the mentors work and his own goal. Thus he shows his downline: Just by growing you open up endless opportunities, new paths and endless rewards.

What is the main difference between a boss and a mentor?
Familiarity.
An employer will always keep up a wall to his worker, so that he can make efficient decisions (fail=fired).
The mentor is more like a parent: he enjoys teaching and seeing the growth, he will be sad with you when you fail, build you up again, be firm with you when needed and will have to release you upon the world one day.

Your own words and actions are led by your own mentality. If you do see yourself rather in a mentor role instead of a boss role, your very first talk with your new affiliates sound already different and leads them away from the employee mentality.
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An employee mentality is quite stubborn, it hinders you from taking your own stance in SFI and to make use of all the opportunities.

It is best to tackle this while the affiliate is still new. He/She needs to know that this SFI business will be his own business and that you are just his mentor. Also you yourself need to build up the mentality to be a mentor and not an employer to your downline.

What everyone needs to know:

Ones advices and teachings as a mentor can
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Affiliate since: 09/26/2012, Power Rank: 483 | Read George's 87 other Ask SC answers

Mindsets of an employee and entrepreneur are worlds apart. To become an effective entrepreneur takes a total paradigm change.

I have been in an entrepreneurial status since 1986. I have owned many business. I have partnered in some, and been sole proprietor in others.

I believe a key characteristic in being an entrepreneur for me was, my Father was one. I had trouble being an employee I worked overtime without pay, I worked on pet projects that became the property of my employer with no financial recompense to me, why? Because I was an entrepreneur. I wanted to do it. I wanted to see if it could be done.

Here are the first 5 thoughts that come to mind about the difference between an Entrepreneur and Employee.

1. An entrepreneur must learn to say NO.

Employee says yes all the time. They have a boss. That boss tells them what to do and they say yes. The boss tells them when to say no, and they say yes boss I will say no at this time. But an entrepreneur needs to know what is and is not important. He must know when to say yes, and when to say no. He must make sure he is engaged in the activities that produce revenue.

An example that I am aware of: There are some people who send a stream message 3 times a week. Those messages are meant to produce encouraged, effective, and trained affiliates who take that stream, that piece of news, that new idea and put it into action. The entrepreneur says, use the stream to encourage and train. The employee says, use the stream to get 3 points a week. So the employee says, "Hi" three times a week. He gets his point but misses THE point.

2. Forget perfection. In the workplace you focus on quality and perfection. But as an entrepreneur you must focus on the 80/20 rule. 20% of my activity generates 80% of my revenue. Perfection makes trying new things very, very hard. You find a new online marketing tool. Because you do not know how to use it "right" you do not use it at all. You do not experiment. An employee mentality says , there is a manual, training, or some other means by which I will be shown how it is done right. Someone else did the learning and experimenting to see how best to do it, and they will tell me what to do. An entrepreneur thinks "Just do it". Try it. Play with it. Mess with it and see what we can do.

An entrepreneur is improvement oriented, not perfection oriented.

3. An employee waits for instructions. An entrepreneur looks for solutions. Employees ask. Entrepreneurs figure it out. True entrepreneurs have no one to ask.

4. Forget the clock - long hours is what an entrepreneur uses. An employee is all about, payment for services rendered. They get paid for their time, even if that time is not producing revenue. That is why so many affiliates chase VP and wonder why they are not making lots of money. They are using their time, but they are not producing revenue. The only place where there is money to be had is by producing revenue. No revenue, no money. An entrepreneur only gets paid to produce revenue. An entrepreneur sees that and knows that to create a revenue stream takes a lot of time and a lot of work. So you must love what you do. You must not do it for the money. The money will come when the stream is flowing.

5. Multiple hats. In the employee world most problems faced is someone elses problem. Electricity goes off and you laugh and chat with your buddies, it is someone elses problem. The entrepreneur gets on the phone to the electric company. most affiliates say to me, Tell me the step by step way to success, what is it? Well there is not one. Market online? Yes. Market locally with fliers? Yes. Free marketing? Yes. Paid marketing? Yes. Email marketing? Yes. Social marketing? Yes. We as entrepreneurs do not do just one thing. We do it all.

6. I said five, but this is number six. Sow now, reap later. Employees expect to receive immediate compensation for their time. Entrepreneurs expect to achieve future recurring income for their work. My first year in SFI I invested as much as I could, and everything I earned into my business growth. Now I am reaping.
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Mindsets of an employee and entrepreneur are worlds apart. To become an effective entrepreneur takes a total paradigm change.

I have been in an entrepreneurial status since 1986. I have owned many business. I have partnered in some, and been sole proprietor in others.

I believe a key characteristic in being an entrepreneur for me was, my Father was one. I had trouble being an employee I worked overtime without pay, I worked on pet projects that became the property of my employer
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Affiliate since: 10/26/2010, Power Rank: 251 | Read Kay's 289 other Ask SC answers

Most employees today do not invest into the company they are working for. They do their work, they don't have to think about how to do it, they just do it unless they are in a creative field, and they have a boss who tells them everything to do. And most jobs nowadays are temporary and unstable.

A business owner invests lots of time and money, has to do his own planning and decision making, and has to lead his crew in a manner that produces respect, teamwork, and a sense of a job well done.

I think the most important thing to do to change your PSAs from employees to business owners is to teach them to set goals and how to meet them. Setting goals takes planning, following them takes conviction. Achieving landmark goals in itself is a reward system, but other rewards will go a long way to bringing your affiliates along.

As they strive for their goals, they will have to invest time and money into their business, Stress that it is their business and their responsibility. Because it it their business, it becomes more than just temporary, it has a promise the he will make money if he just keeps following those who have succeeded. He won't be fired or laid off from his own business.

Your own attitude will help. Counsel him as a business consultant, not as a parent or boss. Give him a sense of being free to make the decisions even while you are teaching him to duplicate yourself.


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Most employees today do not invest into the company they are working for. They do their work, they don't have to think about how to do it, they just do it unless they are in a creative field, and they have a boss who tells them everything to do. And most jobs nowadays are temporary and unstable.

A business owner invests lots of time and money, has to do his own planning and decision making, and has to lead his crew in a manner that produces respect, teamwork, and a sense of a job well
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Affiliate since: 07/05/2024, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Nafisa's 286 other Ask SC answers

It is very important that as a Sponsor you pass on the correct details to your prospects. This will reduce such conflict and give them a clear distinction between a "job" and a "business".

In as far as looking at SFI as an employer, you must quickly correct this perception by advising affiliates that if they have an employee mentality, this will not be the right place to be in because employees are paid salaries not commissions. SFi pays out commissions based on the performance of your business, so treat it as one.

If SFI was not a business then you would not have the flexibility of working from home. Which employee works from home 365 days of the year? I do not know of any.

Employees have a fixed income every month. SFi has commissions which vary depending on how hard you work. Also there is no ceiling on how much you can earn in a business - the profits will be determined by your investment of time, money and financial input, a salaried employee has no part in the shares of the company for which he works.

These basic differences can easily turn the mindset of affiliates into understanding that there is a definite distinction between a salaried job and the SFI business.
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It is very important that as a Sponsor you pass on the correct details to your prospects. This will reduce such conflict and give them a clear distinction between a "job" and a "business".

In as far as looking at SFI as an employer, you must quickly correct this perception by advising affiliates that if they have an employee mentality, this will not be the right place to be in because employees are paid salaries not commissions. SFi pays out commissions based on
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