Are you Too Old or Too Young for Network Marketing?

Have you ever sent somebody some information and they came back and said they’re “too old” or “too young” to do the business?

Saying you’re “too old” or “too young” for a business is another form of self-invalidation.  And let me tell you, I had it on both sides.  

When I was “too young,” I had the idea that my idea was less valuable than someone’s else.  If I hadn’t made money yet, how could I communicate to another person how to make money?

And when I was “too old,” I wondered if I was still relevant in the business world.  The little voice in my head would say things like, “Do I have the energy? Do I really want to do this?  Aren’t I obsolete at this point?”

The truth is, none of these self-invalidating questions will serve you.  It’s time to ask better questions. 

Self Invalidations 

Telling yourself that you’re “too young” or “tool old” to do Network Marketing is just another form of self-invalidation. 

Other forms of self invalidation could be thoughts you have like: 

“I’m not a sales person.” 

“I’ve tried it before and it didn’t work.” 

When people get thoughts like this in their head, it’s most likely because they’ve been around someone who gave them that idea. 

When I was younger and I thought I was “too young”, I had the thought that my idea was less valuable than another’s.  I thought that if I didn’t go to college, then I didn’t have the right to say something, especially relating to business. 

I thought that If I’ve not made money yet, how can I communicate to another person making money, about how to make money. 

In the “too old” category, my thoughts were: 

“Do I have the energy?” and 

 “Am I obsolete?” 

I had built a big business. Then my company bought it from me and I was retired, irrelevant, not in the game. I knew how to build a business on fax machines. Things changed over  the years. I was no longer relevant. 

When you are older, there can be a degradation of ability. But this is what you need to know: If you don’t use an ability, you forfeit that ability. 

Unfortunately, that’s Mother Nature’s design. I didn’t make it up. I don’t even agree with it. 

If you don’t use a muscle, you forfeit that muscle – the body is very efficient. If you do one sit-up in the morning when you get out of bed, then it’s going to be very efficient to that, and you might be able to do three or four. 

If you don’t use that math, you forfeit that knowledge. I know this because my son comes to me with his homework and I say, “Hmm, gee, gosh. Yeah, I’ll be with you in just a few minutes,” and then I Google it.

If you don’t talk to people, you forfeit communication skills. I did a couple of videos a long, long time ago. But, when I decided to do these weekly Network Marketing Power videos, it was a learning curve.

What I’m trying to show you is that you’re going to forfeit it, there is a learning curve. Step into it. Head toward it.

The Secret to Getting Things Done

One of the secrets that I have about working out is that I schedule it in advance, and when my alarm goes off on my watch or in my office, I stand up and I start walking. 

I don’t think about whether I want to do it or not. That’s the secret. That is absolutely the secret. 

It’s the same thing with these videos. I have to do the video, so when my calendar says “film video” – I stop what I’m doing and get out to the studio. 

That’s the way I overcome resistance to getting things done. I make a decision. I schedule it on my calendar and then I just move to do it. That’s the secret to it. There’s no other secret. 

I always show the Pipeline because this is what you do, whether you’re young or you’re old. 

If you’re young and you think no one will listen to you, then just put people in front of a presentation.

They might say, “What do you know about business?”

I say, “I know that that makes sense. The presentation that I just just showed you, does it make sense to you?”

I’m not the opportunity. I’m not the business. Whatever you’re showing them is the business. You’re just showing that. 

If they say, “Well, I would need to talk to somebody who’s making money,” I’ll get that person on the phone or on a Zoom or something like that. 

Dive In!

I do work with older people and they say, “I know a whole lot about banking,” or, “I know a whole lot about accounting,” but I don’t know anything about network marketing.” 

I say, “How did you learn about banking?” 

They say, “Well, I guess I just dove in, and I figured it out along the way.”

I say, “Dive in!” 

That really is all there is to it. 

I don’t want to put too much emphasis on this one because it’s just one of those things that somebody gets in their head. Maybe you hung around somebody and they kept saying, “I’m too old for this,” and you adopted that idea. So just knock it off. 

I chewed on this one of “feeling too young” so much. I cannot even begin to describe how much I chewed on “I’m too young,” and “I didn’t go to school.”  

Just remember, you’re not the opportunity. The business is the opportunity. Just keep showing it to the right people. 

Only a small-minded person would evaluate a business from from that perspective and invalidate you personally. 

You Can’t Show the Business to the “Wrong” Person

One of my biggest earners, a kindergarten teacher, was doing a business presentation to a successful business owner who had a $300 million company.

During the presentation, she was fumbling all over. She was doing and “old school” presentations with a flip chart and while she was flipping pages and talking, the presentation chart slid off the table and all of the pieces of paper went flying off everywhere.

The successful businessman picked up all of the pieces of paper and said to her, “I’ll look at it.”

And then he walked into the other room, shut the door, and then came back out and said to her, “If this is true, this is incredible!”

Such a great example that you can’t show the right business to the wrong person. The right person is going to see the business for what it is, regardless of your age.

So get it out of your head that your age has anything to do with another person joining your business.

Just do the Pipeline. That’s all there is.

I’d love to hear from you on this topic. Have you had self-invalidating thoughts that stop you from doing the business? If so, how did you solve it? 

I look forward to what you have to say. 
P.S.  If you don’t have a team, haven’t recruited anyone (or less than 10 people), this is THE course you should get – Network Marketing Training Course