I belong to a group on Facebook called The Game of Network Marketing. There are thousands of GROUPS you can join on Facebook that revolve around Network Marketing or Direct Sales but in my opinion most are nothing more than PITCHING POSTS trying to get someone into your business. Not so with this group. This group is authentic and offers so many valuable tips from those in the industry who genuinely want to share. You also have to agree to follow their guidelines or you will be removed from the group. I like that!
This is the description of the group : The Game of Networking description
Almost everything in life can be fun. It is all in your perspective. Even things such as networking can be turned into a more important serious game such as chess. Chess takes a ton of strategy. Everything worthwhile takes strategy. That includes relationships and networking.
My favorite part about networking is that the way you TRULY win the game is to help others. Selfish people don’t WIN in networking.
What’s the great factor for determining your happiness? It surely isn’t money or celebrities wouldn’t be having meltdowns so often. Relationships are the greatest determination of happiness. The more we feel connected to others, the better we feel about ourselves and the life we lead. We feel purpose, we feel fulfilled, we feel loved. These relationships and feelings lead us to realize our greatest potential and thus leads us to happiness.
Harvard Psychiatrist George Valliant directed a study from 1972 to 2004. He believed that maintaining warm relationships with friends and family was the key to happiness and success and wanted to prove it. Warm relationships to me represents having a network of close friends. For the study, he worked with 268 male Harvard undergraduates from the classes of 1938-1940 (now well into their 90’s) for 75 years. He collected data on various aspects of their lives at regular intervals over the 75 years. The conclusions he found were universal.
Not only did Valliant discover that his focus on warm relationships was warranted, he ended up placing even more importance on this factor than he had previously. Valliant notes that the 58 men who scored highest on the measurements of “warm relationships” earned an average of $141,000 a year more during their peak salaries (between ages 55-60) than the 31 men who scored the lowest. My first point is that having a network of strong or warm relationships will increase your pay but the more important point is that those relationships/connections are the key to happiness.
“Joy is connection,” Valliant says. “The more areas in your life you can make connection, the better.” Humans crave feeling supported, valued and connected. Connection is the link that makes us feel supported and valued.
The study found strong relationships to be far and away the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. In terms of career satisfaction, feeling connected to one’s work was far more important than making money or achieving traditional success.
“The conclusion of the study, not in a medical but in a psychological sense, is that connection is the whole shooting match,” says Valliant. If relationships equal happiness then SUCCESS is NETWORKING.
Here is one question that was posted in the group the other day and it got ME thinking.
If you had to choose one improvement you’d love to make from the list below (in relation to where you’re currently at in your business), what would you pick?
1. 
Rank Advance
2. Create a higher level of income
3. Become a higher skilled Network Marketer
4. Help your team to become stronger and stay with you for life
5. Create more product sales
6. Create more duplication
7. Develop a strong online presence
8. Become a key person of Influence in the industry.
You know it is a good question when it gets you thinking. Initially I wanted to say ALL OF THE ABOVE, but I ended up choosing #8. In reality, in order to become a key person of influence in the industry you would have to have to be dialed into #1-7. You WOULD rank advance and help others on the team to rank advance and create more product sales as well. In addition you would also have to become more skilled as a Network Marketer and the obvious is you would earn more income as your team and business expands. When you care about your team and create a feeling of inclusiveness and FUN, they will be loyal to you and your leadership.
In order to build depth and width in your network marketing business it makes sense that developing a strong online presence would be important as it would be a great way to reach more people and keep those on your team engaged and in the loop.
If you had to answer the question above, what would YOUR ANSWER be? We’d love to know.
Dave and Joy/Global Leaders with TAVALA
802-846-7530 