Building a network marketing business is not so different from building any other business, or in fact, building a house. Here is a set of specific steps to follow to realize the dream "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don’t much care where…" said Alice. "Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat. "…so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you’re sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough." (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6) This is often mistakenly quoted as "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there". Even though those lines are not in the book, it sums up the ideology perfectly. And it's true.

You can take any road you like if you neither care about nor know where you're going and if you get lost and don't reach your destination, it won't matter.

Clearly, this will never do if you are in business. As an internet marketer, you should know where you are going and you should have a mud map of how you plan to get there (allowing for detours, bumps in the road, changes in itinerary!) Otherwise you may never reach your goal because you will be lost or will have "driven" the long way around and taken twice the time and resources you needed to.

Starting with the basics, you need a vision.

Creating A Vision

You may wonder why creating a vision is necessary. Is it so much mumbo-jumbo just to sound impressive? Not really and here's why.

When you have a vision of your business, you remove the guesswork and the uncertainty. You are able to identify more easily what you want in the future with what you have now so you know exactly what is missing and therefore what your immediate aims and goals should be.

In addition, having a vision fires you up and gives you the energy and enthusiasm to achieve things you wouldn't otherwise have done. These 'things' might be exploring more avenues for your business, new marketing techniques, etc. The stuff that builds a business! Building a network marketing business is not so different from building any other business, or in fact, building a house. There is a set of specific steps to follow to realize the dream:

(1) Identify your needs – e.g: number of rooms.

(2) Develop your vision – Use an architect to develop a picture of your finished home

(3) Create a plan – With your architect and builder create a plan including a series of deadlines to keep everything on track. So, the first step is to identify your needs. Consider your personal needs as well as business needs because your vision should be all encompassing if you want it to be workable and realistic. What do you want to achieve? You may be happy to develop a small network marketing business you can operate from home by yourself, earning just enough to replace your regular income, or you may want to really develop a large network globally and live on millionaire's row.

You need to know your end goal (destination) in order to plan how you will get there (map/itinerary) – having a vision gives you this information.

Think ahead, say 4 years from now. How would you like to see your progress? Write your vision down in full detail and do it in the present tense, as if it is already like that. Bring it to life by adding some cut out pictures that illustrate your "vision" and then keep this in a scrapbook or a poster you can look at every day. Once you have your vision, then you can begin to plan how you will transform it into reality. As you read your vision description, your brain will immediately identify the things that do not exist today. Every time you identify a gap between where you are today and what is described by your vision, you have identified a specific goal to aim for and you don't waste your precious time or money on guesswork.

Goals are the specific steps you must take to make your business vision a reality.

Write your goals in the present tense, as if you have already achieved them. For example: "I own an LCD monitor that is huge and hangs on the wall." Identify all the specific goals that you will need to achieve to make your vision a reality. A useful technique to help cement your vision is to buy a blank notebook and start a daily journal. Every morning when you wake up, take your journal and rewrite your goals. This is an amazing technique that gives you the focus and drive that you need to succeed.

Each time you write out your goals, you strengthen your desire and focus.

You send out a call to the infinite world of possibility and place your order for the life that you want to bring into reality.