Top Leader John Haremza: “The Dark Side Of Network Marketing”

John Haremza is one of our industry’s true professionals with his career of 34 years and $28 million in earnings.

John Haremza:

“I love this life-changing industry, Network Marketing; it’s simply for the every day person is not just a better way, but in many cases, the only way to go from average to extraordinary. But like anything it has a dark side. This may touch a nerve with some people with this message.

Loyalty, relationships, people moving to other companies in this industry. Right or wrong, when or if it makes sense?

Reasons why people leave:

Everything is about belief, when belief is high, sales are high when belief is low, sales are low.  Other things, such as relationships breakdown, someone feels disrespected, disappointed or disconnected. They can also be personal issues that factor in that we’re not aware of.

Every company has ups and downs, and you have to be committed to ride out those ups and downs, but there is a certain point where you are faced with having to make the decision to stay or go. If the company is doing OK and growing but you or a group is struggling, but most are doing well. You need to look in the mirror.

But if the company is not doing well, I am not talking about ups and downs and challenges; that is normal. I am talking about a consistent decline in sales, and everyone is struggling, then there’s something much bigger at play and the company needs to look in the mirror.

Human behavior is so interesting. One thing you will observe. Most people will not look at it objectively or with a sense of understanding. I know for me, I always try to put myself in the other person’s shoes, as Steven Covey says,

”Seek first to understand, and then to be understood”.

Be assured, there was a reason that someone decided to leave. Most cases yes, it comes from belief maybe in some cases it’s enticement or the next hot deal you can’t resist. There may be a breakdown in a relationship or just not feeling involved or included but there is always a reason.

In my 34 years having been with four companies, and each one of those were really phenomenal experiences. I look back on them with much gratitude and appreciation but also frustration and disappointment. I’ve had many people, hundreds maybe thousands who have left for other opportunities.

I’ve never in any case disparaged them or bashed them or been angry with them. Maybe I’ve been disappointed, maybe I’ve disagreed, but I’ve tried to maintained a relationship and been supportive of their decision and wishing them well and staying in contact with them.

One thing when this happens, you can very quickly find out if a relationship was real, or if it was strictly based off of business or if they were getting benefits someway whether it was support or financial, and now that you have moved on and they no longer have that benefit the relationship is gone.

I find most people unfortunately tend to side with what is going to benefit them the most; not with understanding or what’s right or wrong, but what it’s going to benefit the most, and have to fall into supporting a narrative that is passed down from leadership or the company.

Someday I hope to change this about this industry. I love this industry of Network Marketing, in so many ways but like anything there’s a dark side I hope to someday be able to hold companies to a higher  standard.

If you want to keep your people, keep them happy, provide them proper support and when people leave the company should be asking; where did we go wrong? What can we do to be better? So, people don’t want to leave.

What’s interesting is most of the owners of these companies have been distributors in multiple companies and have left those companies only to then try to destroy or crucify those that leave their company. This is also true with many leaders, pretty much without exception. Every big leader in this  industry has been with multiple companies and had to leave a company for one of the reasons I have already shared.

At the end of the day distributors don’t wreck companies, companies wreck companies. Whether it’s greed, ego, ridiculous changes or decisions or management but at the end of the day the companies destroy them self for these reasons.

For years, I’ve told company owners and key management. The field is the company, no field no company and when belief is high, sales are high when belief is low, sales are low.

I know companies have to make tough decisions but every decision they make, they should ask themselves, how does this impact the fields belief, will it be positive or negative?

Many times companies fall into a dangerous trap of blaming distributors not realizing distributors are distributors are distributors regardless of what company, they’re all the same people it’s not the distributors, it’s the opportunity provided to them. The support, the tools, customer service, infrastructure, and trust, it all impacts belief.

How you make them feel, how you treat them, do they feel valued and appreciated, it all counts. I even write about this in my book “Right or Almost Right”.

Let’s talk a moment about loyalty, I’m a firm believer in loyalty, but there has to be loyalty on both sides and there’s also a point where you can be loyal to a fault. Let’s say a company that you believed in, that you put your trust in is sold, I would say loyalty is out the
window.

Loyalty to your team, to your leaders or loyalty to your company. Let’s throw in responsibility.

Leaders, especially during challenging times, the leader has to show strength and keep the vision alive and help people through those challenging times. But there’s also a point where the leader simply doesn’t believe that it’s going to get better or get fixed or he or she’s people can have the success there desiring at that point it’s not loyalty or does it become deception?

I think true loyalty would be being honest with yourself and making a tough decision. I shared a story the other day on my Instagram that I saw of a giraffe and a turtle this is a great visual of what someone is able to see. A turtle or let’s say, the distributor out in the field can see what’s in front of them. Where the giraffe or the big leader, the more they can see.

Back to the analogy of having a 30,000-foot view versus a 3-foot view. The point is, if a huge leader leaves the company, it’s crazy not to ask why instead of just buying into the narrative.

For me personally, my first experience, which was four years at a very large company, and when a big leader left, it made me take my blinders off, and really begin to look at what was really going on versus what I was told was going on. It was a pinnacle moment in the advancement of my career. From that point forward my view continued to get bigger and bigger.

Your decisions should be based on what you believe is really going on and what is going to be the best for your team. You have to believe that you can lead them to the top of the mountain and your not leading them over a cliff. If you join a company, it needs to be because it’s not what they’re doing for you, rather what you believe the opportunity can provide to the masses because without that, it’s a temporary fix.

So when people are out there, bashing someone don’t blindly believe what is being said rather look at it from both sides, be objective consider the source, and what their motivation to say that might be.

John Haremza