We’ve written before about the habits that set you up for success. However, did you know that there are behaviors that can impede your success as well? No one purposely sets out to sabotage their success. When we first start out as network marketers, we dream of success. We work tirelessly toward our goals and do all we can to keep our motivation up and our businesses moving forward.

But, while we’re actively working to become successful network marketers, we may also subconsciously throw up roadblocks to stop us or slow us down along the way. Read this list of behaviors to see if they’re slowing your success down and find out what to do to stop them.

Pleasing everyone

“Refuse to fight small battles with petty people. Your life is bigger and better than that.”

You may have heard the saying “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” It’s true. We’re all so different and have different experiences and expectations. It’s only natural that someone won’t be happy with something.

Although you may know this deep down, you may find yourself feeling anxious or frustrated when someone isn’t pleased with you. Maybe a customer wasn’t happy with a product or was having a bad day and snapped at you when you reached out. Or, maybe a prospect or someone you’ve been trying to talk to about the opportunity you’re offering criticized something about your product or service.

As a network marketer who serves from the heart, you may have the natural tendency to want to please everyone, especially if they’re unhappy. You don’t want to disappoint anyone so when someone is critical, or you feel they might be, you may slip into people-pleaser overdrive. Your desire to bend over backwards to please someone or get a sale or add someone to your network may come at the cost of spending time with the people who matter to your business – the advocates who drive it.

Success tip:

While it’s good service to see how you can fix something or make it right, there will be times when the person just can’t be brought around. And that’s okay. Not everyone needs to be in your network. Instead of spending all of your time and energy trying to convince someone that you and your business are awesome, focus that attention on the advocates who already think you’re awesome. By focusing your energy on them, you’ll build your relationship and feel more comfortable asking them if they know other great people like them who would like to join your team. The benefit of this is you’ll get to build a network of advocates who believe in you and your business, which helps to ensure you’ll stay on the path to success.

Fearing change

No one likes change. Humans are creatures of routine – we’ll create a routine whether we realize it or not. Although some changes are good – like finally achieving success and all the financial rewards that come with it – other changes throw us for a curve (like the entire last year dealing with the pandemic). 

Change is a fact of life, and whether we like it or not (or we’re ready for it or not), it’ll happen. Usually it happens when we least expect it. Now, we can sit with this fact and be anxious about the next change upon us… or we can accept that change will happen and build the habits and attitudes that make it bearable. The best way to handle change is not to avoid it, but to be prepared for it.

Success tip:

Gracefully handling change comes down to the things we do daily – the positive successful habits that allow us to build our businesses. No one can predict when change will occur; we can’t control it. However, we can control our daily habits and behaviors that are conducive to success, regardless of what life throws us. That means doing your daily Power Hour and connecting with your best customers and distributors. It means following up with everyone, from your prospects to your team members to check in and see how you can help. When life throws changes at you, prepare by practicing the good habits of success – they’re change-proof.

Living in the past

“Today will never happen again. Don’t waste it with a false start or no start at all.”

– Og Mandino

The past already happened. However, many of us wish we could summon a time machine to go back and change things. “I wish I could go back and…” is the common beginning of wishes. Perhaps you want to say or do something differently, thinking that if you did that, the outcome would be different. Time machines are only real in movies, and even in the movies, they come with the caveat that anything you do to change the past will alter the present. In short, you can’t change the past without changing all the great stuff you have right now. 

Success tip:

You have the gift of today at your fingertips; don’t waste time focusing on what’s happened in the past. You can’t take back not contacting a customer for months, but you can reach out now and get back in touch. If you began in network marketing using traditional pushy sales methods, you can’t go back and begin to use relationship marketing from the start. However, you can practice it now, and work toward building relationships with everyone in your network. While you’re at it, you can also think about restoring relationships with the people who may have been burned by aggressive sales tactics in the past. 

Putting yourself down

“Doubting yourself is normal. Letting it stop you is a choice.”

– Mel Robbins

What would you do if you heard someone putting down someone you loved? You’d be angry, right? However, some of the same things that we’d be angry hearing other people say to the people we love, we say to ourselves everyday. 

“You can’t do that”

“You’ll never succeed.”

“That person doesn’t want to hear from you.”

The list goes on. Even the people who seem to be brimming with confidence are afflicted with moments of self-doubt from time to time. The difference between them and everyone else is they tell that voice to stuff it, or ignore it entirely, and move forward anyway. Although feeling unsure is normal, you don’t have to listen to that negative voice in your head. Doubt is based in fear and anxiety, often for unfounded reasons. Perhaps you’re fearful of failure or rejection, which is totally normal for any business owner. However, it becomes an act of sabotage when it prevents you from moving forward in your business and succeeding. 

Success tip:

Silence that negative voice with a healthy dose of positivity everyday. Start your day with a positive song you love or by reading a positive mantra or saying out loud. Read positive news and information, and devour books written by other successful people. The most successful people have experienced self-doubt in their lives and are open about how they overcome it. Learn from them and find ways to rise up against doubt when you find it interrupting you on your journey to success.

Overthinking

Thinking is an important part of planning for success in any business. However, overthinking often makes it impossible to move the business forward. Some network marketers overthink their plans for their businesses. They want to pinpoint every single thing that may happen so they can address it ahead of time or avoid challenges all together. Challenges will occur and often arise unexpectedly, regardless of how much planning has taken place. There are just some things you can’t predict. However, just as with change, the best way to handle it, is to build the daily habits of success.

Other network marketers get wrapped up in overthinking each and every communication with their customers, prospects, and distributors. They labor over the “right” thing to say and then, once they hit send, criticize themselves for what they sent. When they receive a response, or don’t within the timeframe they expected, they analyze every word and the perceived tone of it trying to decipher clues like a code breaker during WWII. They beat themselves up over every little thing and think, “if I had only said it this way…” or “I bet they used that tone because they’re still mad that I swiped the last cupcake at that PTA social 5 years ago.” In reality, the other person didn’t put that much thought into what was said or how they responded. 

Success tip:

If you’re not sure what to say and want to say the right thing, use our scripts to get started. Use them verbatim or as inspiration to craft the best message. There’s no point spending time trying to write the perfect thing when you have scripts at your fingertips to use instead. Also, remember that the other person isn’t overthinking what you’ve written to them – they’re happy you reached out to check in with them and say hello. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to say the right thing and instead focus on reaching out and building relationships with the best people in your network.

Teamzy can help you on your journey to success

Through it all, Teamzy is there to help you build a successful network marketing business. It’s more than a CRM; it also lets you know what to do each day to build a business you love. Use the scripts to build relationships with everyone in your network and sign up for training courses that help you put your best self forward. Click here to learn more.