In spite of the perspective I had after the conference in Johar Baru (JB), my audacity and ego blew a lot of potentially good networkers out of the window. I attribute that to bad karma. Karma that had started many years before I embraced the business myself… with my younger sister!
When she had got introduced to network marketing and wanted me in, she was at college and I was already an established brand consultant. I knew all about the psychology of human behavior and how people are brainwashed (at meetings) to believe they can achieve things extraordinary. And I let her know that without mincing words. But she took it well… she was stronger than most newbies. And though she went on to build quite a substantial network, it was only later when she could was displaced from her peer group that she quit. But by disparaging her I had already earned my bad karma.
Cut back to post-JB. We were at Nama’s place. It was a Sunday afternoon. There was a dampness in the air with the monsoon in full fervor, but the mood inside the room was still chirpy. My results were damp too, but the spirit was chirpy thanks to the company it had now started to keep. The discussion was on motivation and that had reminded me of my sister. Dreams, after all, form the foundation of the B-quadrant. “Are you motivated by your dream or by your nightmare?” he’d asked. Either worked, it seemed!
On the white board at one corner of the crowded room were two words; Internal and External. Internal and external motivation, which most people were confused about. Why would anyone take the trouble of building a network? That was the moot point Nandkumar had aired. And Nama had replied with Zen-like terseness, “the answer will come to you when you attend meetings.”
It was only in Malaysia that I learned that these meetings do not serve to preach… they serve to awaken. They don’t add fuel to the fire… they are the fire. And this self-awakening is what internal motivation is about. What pursuing one’s dream is about.
Ever since that trip I had even started to look upon the corporate world differently. The phrase ‘all fired up’ had started connoting a ‘burn-out syndrome’. One that made people run like headless chicken – very fast in circles. Their motivation to do so was generally a paycheck. Or social conformity. Their bigger picture did not arise from any internal fire. One could say their driving motivation was just to chase security or simply conform, rather than truly pursue their larger dreams.
Meanwhile, I was observing the B-quadrant business owners with new eyes. I found they were the truly fired up people, and were actually most calm and relaxed. Like the calm, invisible flame under the vessel of boiling water… it changes the state of water from liquid to gas. Turns the gross to the subtle. That’s what these people did. They manifested change inside and around them. B-quadrants were true networkers who harnessed their internal motivation in all aspects of life.
“So anything that motivates us externally is short-lived, right?” said Lakshmi trying to sum up what had been coming.
“Yes, unless it makes us think, it is non-defining for our life”, replied Nama. “Most people die without knowing they could have lived differently. That they could have impacted the world.”
“Unless they happen to be at a few of our meetings…” someone added as an afterthought.“These meetings stir us from inside and help us identify our internal motivating factors”, I found myself collaborating.
“Yes, that’s what makes them critical. Meetings help us understand ourselves better… and our purpose as leaders is to expose our teams to them. Remember your network is only as large as the number of people at your last meeting. And be warned, this can be a very humbling statistic.” Nama was frankness unadulterated.
Just then Tharini announced tea and it seemed the right time for a break. As it was, I was counting my group at that meeting and starting to feel depressed. Great ego-killers, these meetings!
I had some official work to catch up with immediately after the meeting and so I excused myself and hopped across to meet Sanjeev. He had an interesting comment on this.
Sanjeev was an extremely well read man and I had briefly partnered with him to grow my consulting practice. He had mentioned he wanted to understand what I did with network marketing and I was excited to tell him. He’d joined immediately. And did not attend a single meeting. He did not understand a thing therefore. Purpose defeated. I always believed he had great potential. But this was his karmic issue.
Like many who quit networking without understanding it, his job too, in this life, had been to preach. Not practice. He could quote economists on the effects of mass social change and the twenty-one factors that drove visionaries. He could talk on the collective unification of purpose. Recite biographies of Hitler. Mussolini. Stalin. But he couldn’t fathom distributed purpose and collective responsibility. How each person could be fighting their own demons… to achieve their own personal dreams in a collective, cooperative manner.
“It doesn’t happen that way Sandeep”, he declared that afternoon.
“Are any economists advocating network marketing?”
“I’m sure they are,” I said somewhat tentatively. Much after this dialog I learned that Russia had grown tremendously in network marketing, and over 50 post-doctorate economists were involved at a diamond-and-above level. If only I had known and could’ve quoted this to him then… karma.
“The model is a ponzi scheme”, he continued.“Suit yourself buddy.” This attitude of many like Sanjeev told me lots about their approach to life in general. And helped me conclude that network marketing is the greatest filter of human consciousness. Only the ones ready for a higher level of vibration make it here. For they are the ones with influence and impact.
It was incredible the way the universe had put across a few people to me who guided me to this conclusion. Robert Kiyosaki was the first. The B-quadrant was an eye-opener. And its linkages with abundance thinking were shocking. When you put aside your personal intellect you allow yourself to open into divine intelligence it is amazing how easily you transition from the S-quadrant to the B-quadrant of business. Due to this divinity, you operate with untold power.
Power that Sanjeev was clearly not ready for. And in a few months we parted ways.The 21stcentury however, is about this radical social change. Through kinesiological studies, Dr. David Hawkins has revealed a very significant aspect of this. He has
demonstrated that we operate on a set vibratory scale that determines our responses to any stimulus. At a vibratory level of 25 we perceive guilt in any situation and therefore react accordingly. At a level of 600 we view peace in the very same situation and that would guide how we respond.
It’s interesting to note the words ‘react’ and ‘respond’. We mess up our lives by reacting… for that is acting upon impulse. We do not allow our action to receive the benefit of any possible divine intervention – that could come from the part resident in our subconscious. When we respond however, we process the input for a few seconds. Maybe we take a deep breath in the meanwhile. And what we output as a consequence has a greater impact. It’s these small deep breaths, small gestures, small practices that cause a big impact on our life and business in the B-quadrant.
Coming back to the vibrations, there was this Peanuts’ strip where Charlie Brown (smiling peacefully) picked up a pebble and threw it into a lake. Lucy came charging from behind and screamed, “What did you do! Don’t you realize that stone took 3 million years just to get to the shore!” “Good grief.” Charlie Brown turned guilty as ever. And it was Lucy’s low vibration, driven by anger / jealousy that impacted it.
While we might laugh this off, this really is how we create increasing negativity in society. Which is growing at a frenetic pace thanks to TV. The news has a quality of spreading the bad stuff really fast. And at a low vibration we become magnets of bad stuff. This is why network marketers, preachers and success gurus (like Tony Robbins and Bob Proctor among others) advise strongly against the newspaper and TV. “What we need to know comes to us,” they assert.
At a higher vibratory level one only catches the beneficial bits and divinity reaches them across. For instance, I had been the reader of the Times Of India since my school days, but it was only after I came under the positive influence of network marketing that I noticed that the same newspaper had a ‘Sacred space’ and a ‘Quotations’ section… most of which made enormous sense and often truly made my day! Here are some great quotes to reflect on.
No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it. ~H.E. LuccockOne piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up, add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends; needless to say that individuality counts but team work dynamites. ~Jin Kwon
Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. ~Henry FordSuccess is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill
The way these people speak of teamwork, purpose and collaboration, who can imagine they are referring to anything other than network marketing? But that’s the beauty of it. Network marketing is life at a higher vibratory level. It is the springboard for personal success and a designer life. And what’s more, it provides a platform for us to design other’s lives.
Quoting Dr. Hawkins, ‘The critical point on the scale is the 200 mark. At less than 200 a person’s main concern is personal survival and they tend to take more out of the system than they put in. Someone above the 200 mark is more likely to begin to consider the welfare of others as well as his or her own. The vast majority of the world’s population is well below the 200 mark. However, because the few people vibrating at very high levels (500+) are counteracting the energy of the majority vibrating below 200, the average is 207. Only in the last decade has it passed the 200 mark. Someone vibrating at around 350 is counteracting 200,000 people below 200. Someone vibrating at the level of 500 is counteracting 750,000 people below 200.’
This is what is really exciting. Network marketing will help create a critical mass above 500. Everyone who has achieved any significant level (like ‘diamond’ and above) does come across really high on energy and positivity. They do love everyone (Love is the state at vibratory level 500). And they have also touched over 200,000 people directly or indirectly.
So this really is a small socio-economic awakening today. A blip on the radar of humanity. But it’s significant. Like its people. Not just successful; significant.
Every successful networker is significant because he vibrates at the consciousness that allows him to carry a team of a few 100,000 people towards their dreams. That’s collective responsibility for distributed vision. That’s the selfless conduct of a life that pays forward. A B-quadrant approach to life dipped in abundance and fuelled by the higher vibrations of human existence (see appendix 1)!
Dr. David Schwartz was another such man who stepped into my life with his book, ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’. Here he diagnoses ‘Excusitis’ as the #1 disease that plagues humanity. What a concept! Further, he writes about Vision. Visualization. Goals. All for the common man. For anyone to achieve. There are many such books… as they say, ‘when you take the turn, the scenery changes’.
I took many turns. In fact for a while my life and business were practically going around in circles. But it seemed fun. What I could grasp only much later was that these circles were spiraling upwards. No evident change but lots of growth in a different dimension. And that dimension was spirituality.
The reason spirituality is more in vogue than religion (a quick dipstick on Facebook preferences will validate this statement) is because the old paradigm of iconic religious texts, idols and persona are being replaced by energy shifts. And quantum physicists have also got a handle on this now. It was always evident to Reiki masters and Pranic healers… but today ordinary people like me are becoming energy channels, which are drawn from divine masters in constant connection with the brighter world.
Some of these masters I have personally experienced. Sai Baba, Amma-Bhagwan, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Chariji. Equally admirable are the many others who have evolved systems that empower others to enable self-realization through modular teaching packages. I encountered Colin Tipping and Louise Hay through Antharyami; an awakening institute. Bijan was my client. James Redfield, Bob Proctor, Laura Silva, Joe Vitale, Tony Robbins and John Assaraf came to me through various media; books, seminars, courses and programs. All of them are of evolved consciousness and play an active role in furthering the evolution.
And of course, a special mention is due for Jim Dornan. When I first encountered network marketing in the midnineties (then mostly multi-level marketing or MLM), I was appalled and cheesed off by the way people almost deified their uplines. Now I understand. It’s a low vibration response to a high vibration being. The job of the high vibration being is to create the charge for enhanced consciousness. With Jim, work has always been in progress.
“So what will network marketing do in such a context?” I was intellectualizing with Nama (a highly evolved spiritual being himself) the next day as I carried my thoughts over.
“It will empower”, he said, “because leaders empower and network marketing is all about creating leadership.”“And it does not require a management degree to become a leader”, I mused.
Nama laughed, “that usually gets in the way!” I knew he wasn’t taking a dig at me but I felt miffed anyway. And then I realized I was in awareness of how I felt. Which meant I was better connected to divine awareness. And I felt better.
We were meeting after work at a coffee shop to plan the week. With all the thoughts connecting consciousness with network marketing in my head, I had been silent for most part of the day. My wife had not even noticed, but that too was ok. Any explanation would be like one of the fabled six blind men describing the elephant. The subject was like that. No wonder it took about 6 exposures for an average person to begin to ‘get it’.
“Cappuccino?” “That’s for him”, I said, happy to distract myself again. The waiter placed the iced tea before me and left.
“As long as you can continue to understand the other person Sandeep you will be connected with the other person. “Network marketing is a great practice-field to live life”, Nama remarked, continuing the thought.
Hmmm. I didn’t really know what to say. All of a sudden the tall tea glass before me seemed to develop a life of its own and briskly swept itself off the table and through my fingers onto the floor. “Oh gosh!”
Without missing a beat Nama said, “we always create our circumstances. The glass reflects your state of confusion about where to land. On the management side or in the leadership stream.” He smiled. Always smile when you say anything potentially offensive. “By the same token, you can change everything anytime.” Hey, that was the same thing the Antharyami discourse had said out of Colin Tipping’s book. Things seemed to be converging again.
“Meditate on it. The answers will come from inside” offered Nama with a smile. Was that a network marketer telling me this? No that was a mentor. Till then I hadn’t realized how network marketing success depended hugely on right mentorship. I had always thought it was about ‘convincing people’ to buy products and enroll. At the coffee shop I was beginning to understand that the only one who needed to be convinced about success was the one I saw in the mirror. This entire industry primarily facilitated that process.
As the attendant returned to clear the mess I’d created with the tea, Nama commented, “you know, to do any business one needs 5 things… Products, Marketing Strategy, Training, Finance and People.”
“Right”, I said, wondering what that was leading to.“Let us look at each of these in the context of Network Marketing” he continued. “The product for network marketers is wide open. Anything can flow in the network. For example, in a telecom network, once your cables are laid, you can flow data, voice, video, text... whatever, through them. Similarly, a network marketer is actually in the business of laying the cables... comprised of consumers consuming good quality products.”
“So what you’re saying is, as B-quadrant business owners our focus is to maintain the robustness of the cable... the product per se, is immaterial?” I was surprised. Most people I knew earlier started and finished the conversation with the name of the product company.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. As a network marketer you can be sure you will always have a great product... or in fact various product lines... which is why it is the least of our worries. What’s more important is the strategy for success in network marketing. And that’s designed to reduce individual work and increase System and team work. By allowing a System to work, every Network Marketer can leverage more from the team than by charting their own strategies.”
This I understood. Robert Kiyosaki recommended Network Marketing so passionately because the marketing strategy was set in place by a System. True network marketers will search for a system for success and abide by it... and in doing so would change their everything... from mindset to finances to relationships!
Encouraged by my emphatic nods Nama continued, “Further, in Network Marketing you get training and operating advice for free, from extremely successful business owners! Because they have a vested interest in your success. Every action of yours... the cost-benefit... the effectiveness... the impact... is well known in advance and you can follow footsteps to operate like the best.”
“Thanks Nama. You are leading by example. How I wish people would just accept help rather than fight their individual battles with life. This I believe is the most undervalued bonus of Network Marketing… it builds the mindset for leadership in all walks of life. And once that develops everything else is a cakewalk!”
“Hey I’m glad you’re discovering! But you know, we have one really interesting difference from conventional business,” Nama added teasingly. “For any business to provide larger turnover and profit, the costs of operation increase. Right?” “Right.” “Not so in Network Marketing. Here, though the business expands exponentially, the expenses remain at the same level. And they’re quite nominal and risk-free.”
Now that was so true. As he spoke I realized this is the only business where one could be absolutely in control of cashflow planning and growth. Which is a severe stress-point in any other business.
“However, since network marketing is a B-quadrant business, the money comes in much after the work is done. It's like in farming, where you plant the seeds in one season and harvest the next season. This ruffles up a lot of people who are used to money-for-effort like in a job or sales. And this is why one must be open to training, to develop the mindset of the rich!”
Coming from a cost accountant, that was an acute financial observation I thought. Probably that’s what keeps people away. They want money upfront. That doesn’t come. So they don’t value training. So their money consciousness doesn’t grow. And a vicious downward spiral starts.
“And finally about people. Again, here conventional business and Network Marketing differ significantly. In a traditional business you 'pay' people to follow instructions. In Network Marketing you 'inspire' people to do that. You learn how to lead an army of volunteers. That’s what Mandela, Gandhi, Columbus and others set out to do in their lives and look where it got them.”
Whew! I felt a bolt of clarity had hit me. You yourself do what needs to be done and teach others how to duplicate the simplicity of that. This is why network marketers are basically in search of open-minded students. Just like the Rotary Club is in search of socially inclined business-persons and the Art-of-Living Community is in search of people willing to be navigated to a higher consciousness. Exciting!
It all seemed to be building up to a final question that was tearing my brains away. “So Nama if network marketing is such a powerful instrument for radical social change, why don’t people embrace it more willingly?” As soon as I finished, I wished I hadn’t asked. I feared he might say, ‘think of your own story’. I was instantly guilty. Fear and guilt. I was operating from the lowest vibrations. But he was vibrating really well. Like a true coach. And so he said nothing. We’d paid for the damages. He just smiled and walked away. My karma was to discover this part myself.