Finding your Grant

Only ten days before Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in 1961, the Confederate States of America seceded from the Union, taking all Federal agencies, forts, and arsenals within their territory. On top of this challenge, Lincoln had been elected in spite of receiving only a minority of the popular vote and many of his own advisors despised him. He had no military training and had limited managerial and political experience. Against all of these odds, Lincoln became one of the best known and most successful presidents in US history.

How did he do it? Lincoln became great by surrounding himself with those who had the expertise he lacked and leading them. This wasn’t always an easy process. He struggled a great deal and sorted through many candidates to find the ideal General to lead the Union Army. Ultimately, he found Ulysses S. Grant, who not only led the Union to victory but eventually became president as well.

From this short recollection of American history, we can take a couple of valuable lessons that apply to our world of network marketing. First, leaders know that they must sift through many in order to find the few who will actually build the business. This means that leaders are always looking for the next person to enroll. They don’t pre-judge or pre-qualify. Leaders understand that not everyone they enroll will engage in the business. Some will buy some product, some will try to work a little, and some won’t do anything, but the numbers are on your side! The more you enroll the more likely you are to find your “Grants” - those leaders that will help you build your team.

Second, this situation teaches us to not only look for numbers but to look for quality. Now, I have heard it said that in numbers you will eventually find quality, and this is true, but how will we find quality if we don’t know what we are looking for. I am confident that Lincoln knew all along what type of general he was trying to find.

So, what does the prototypical network marketing leader look like? Unfortunately, there is not a specific mold. They don’t have a specific educational degree. They don’t go through a specific training or have some necessary amount of money in their bank account. They don’t dress a certain a way or drive a certain car. They come from every possible background you can think of. However, there are some common traits among network marketing leaders and some specific things that they know and live by.

1. Leaders know that they can only truly lead by EXAMPLE. You must be a doer of your word.
2. Leaders therefore must be ACTIVE BUILDERS and always be inviting new people to join their organizations.
3. Leaders know they must engage in the business EVERY DAY.
4. Leaders know that their organizations grow best when others DUPLICATE their efforts.
5. Leadership comes from the HEART. You must love and be passionate about what you do.
6. Leaders SHARE their knowledge with others via training, webinars, conference calls, etc.
7. Leaders ATTEND ALL EVENTS, which includes corporate calls, webinars and other training events.

I have had the privilege of working with some of the best and brightest leaders in the network marketing industry and know that all of those who achieved great success embodied the traits above. Not only should we all strive to follow their example, we should also be looking for those around us who already exhibit these same traits.

I will make you a promise. If you will work to build your organization every day with patience and persistence, you will be successful in network marketing. But! You can’t expect it to happen overnight. It will take time. Those who can continually do the things listed above over a long period of time have the greatest opportunity to achieve financial independence with Elur. And remember, as Abraham Lincoln said, “keep searching until you find your Grant.”

Curtis Call
Chief Executive Officer