Team Northrup is very proud to be in the network marketing industry. But, let’s face it, the network marketing industry gets a bad rap from time to time. Our team of wellness entrepreneurs is deeply committed to changing how this industry is seen (and practiced) because we’ve experienced first-hand how positively it can impact peoples’ lives.

So, just what is network marketing? Here’s a quick definition: Network Marketing is a distribution model in which a company manufactures a product and then pays the consumer to spread the word about it. Network marketing and multi-level marketing (MLM) are often used interchangeably. Team Northrup’s product partner, USANA, is technically not an MLM company.

If you’re new to the network marketing industry or you’re poking around to see if it’s for you, here are six reasons network marketing is perfect for service-oriented, big-hearted, fun-loving, freedom-seeking, conscientious people:

1. It’s not possible for you to be successful as a distributor with USANA Health Sciences unless you help others to be successful.

The network-marketing model requires you to focus on helping others achieve success in their business in order for you to be successful. In a traditional business, if you hire someone and she suddenly becomes successful, you might feel threatened. With USANA, when someone starts and then goes gangbusters, its really good news, regardless of whether she starts after you. Her success helps both her and you—USANA’s compensation plan is a total win-win model. The more you nurture your team members, the more your organization and your income grow.

2. Having a big heart makes you more successful in this business.

Whereas the traditional corporate, and even entrepreneurial, environments can be cutthroat, your big heart will actually serve you in network marketing. The more you care about other people and want to make their lives better, the more you’ll be able to help them with your business and products, and the bigger your business will get. This is especially true if you are sharing USANA’s health and wellness line. In this business you get to be all of you and let that big heart out.

3. You don’t have a boss, and you don’t have to be a boss.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit (or are a freedom seeker like many members of Team Northrup), you work best when you are calling the shots. In network marketing you have a supportive team, but you don’t have a boss telling you what to do or when to do it. You have free reign of your life, including complete control over your financial decisions and your schedule. It’s really the best of both worlds. You can enjoy the community of people you work with and have access to awesome social and training events, but you’re only responsible for your business.

4. You get to pick who you work with.

Let’s be honest: Not everyone on the planet is fun or inspiring to hang out with. In most work environments you don’t get to pick your co-workers. If you own a company, you may decide who to hire, but you are still left managing employees, which has its own headaches.

In network marketing you get to pick who you enroll in your business—and who you don’t. No more Debbie Downer, whining constantly about her problems from the next cubicle. Instead, you can choose who you want to build a business with.

5. It’s the only business where you can create true financial and time freedom with a proven system.

Most business owners are owned by their business. Unless they’re working, they aren’t making money. And those who are able to create a business that can function without them, usually have spent a lot of time, money, and brainpower to get their business to that point. (We’re talking years and sometimes millions of dollars building something from scratch.) Network marketing is the only business where absolutely anyone can create financial and time freedom without having to spend a ton of time and money. USANA offers a proven business model with a system that works, if you work it.

6. The more you “grow yourself” the more you grow your business.

Most of the people we work with in Team Northrup are deeply committed to personal growth. They meditate, they take workshops, they’re always learning, and they’re on a path of self-actualization. Whereas in many businesses (and certainly jobs) these pursuits might be seen as a distraction or “fluff” that you can do on your own time, in a network marketing business, growing yourself and expanding your interpersonal skill set is a huge asset. Network marketing is a business about people. The more you grow yourself as a person, the better you are at relating to other people. And the better you are at relating to other people, the better you are at enrolling people in your business and supporting them. It’s a beautiful catch-22. Grow yourself. Grow your business.

The number one most important factor in being successful in a USANA network marketing business is having your primary purpose to make someone’s life better—and to make money in the process). At USANA this is called sharing the message of health and wealth. If this and the concepts described above about network marketing being a win-win business model rings true for you, please take our questionnaire [link] and see if Team Northrup is good fit for you.

What Is “Conscious Network Marketing”?

Network Marketing: a distribution model in which a company markets their products by word of mouth and pays its consumers to spread the word.

Conscious Network Marketing: coined by Team Northrup, this is a unique way of doing network marketing that uses genuine communication, authentic listening, and the core desire to improve peoples’ lives (including your own) to build a thriving business of happy customers and team members who feel inspired, empowered, and connected.

Here’s what “Conscious Network Marketing” means for you:

• Receiving compensation for sharing information about products and services you believe in—strictly with people who have a true need for, or interest in, your product or service
• Having the intention to make someone else’s life better
• Building rapport and relationships
• Redefining sales as service
• Participating in a business model in which someone else has a financial interest in your financial success, thus creating an environment in which you are truly supported to reach your highest potential
• Having a vehicle for creating leveraged, residual income
• Having a way to leave a legacy for future generations
• Enjoying a win-win situation and the ultimate form of leverage: You benefit from other peoples’ work without taking a cut from their earnings
• Being a part of a business model that equalizes the playing field, so your income is not dependent upon age, gender, education, race, or past experience—a true meritocracy
• Building a business in which your income potential is dependent on your own efforts
• Earning while you learn: Earn income while you learn the skills you need for success in any endeavor—public speaking, sales, communication, organization, and marketing skills
• Collaborating instead of competing—a business structure that fosters community and teamwork; growing your business is everyone’s business, and you will be successful only to the degree that you help others
• Receiving training from successful entrepreneurs on the team
• Making a difference in other peoples’ lives
• Using and benefiting from the most ethical business structure in existence

“There is only one success—to be able to spend life in your own way.” – Anonymous

OK. So we have no idea who said that, but we certainly agree. The question is, how? How can we fashion our lives so that we can spend it any way we choose? We want to wake up when we’re done sleeping, vacation when we want to, spend as much time working as we feel necessary, enjoy time at home with family as we like and have enough money to make all of that a reality.

It took us a while but we figured it out. It all started when we moved from New York City to Boulder, Colorado nearly three years ago—and much to our surprise (especially Ayan’s) we have been thrilled with our decision. Liza was pregnant when we decided to move and we have a hunch our little Luna was the driving force behind the whole plan. We are both acupuncturists and share interests in health, travel, food, and quality of life. As much as we love being acupuncturists, we learned quickly that there was no way our salaries would be able to pay for our daughter’s education or our big appetite for life.

That’s when we were introduced to Team Northrup and the benefits of residual income. We haven’t looked back since. Four years later, we’re enjoying all the benefits that financial freedom brings – peace of mind being the most profound of all side effects.

Liza Pascal, L.Ac.