Family: Our First Network

  Ok, out there, I need y’all’s help with something, and it’s rather personal. You see, one of the reasons why I initially got into Network/Affiliate Marketing is because networkiing essentially facilitates easier transitions, exchanges via an interconnectedness, which at its core is derived from natural principles. I mean, isn’t nature itself a network of interconnected principles all facilitating the continued success of this planet? So, taking its cues from there, network marketing is a process of disseminating information, cutting away the fat, and connecting leads down to the point of sale. This actually creates a vast array of win-win possibilities, and great possibilities for duplication. Now, in understanding this, as I became more and more engaged in network marketing I began to wonder: Isn’t family the original network? I mean, think about it: a family tree is a depiction of interconnected DNA, and for intents and purposes, the ranking order. Still, never mind any ranking order, when you understand the key principles influencing network marketing, its not difficult to understand how largely families miss out on not truly establishing a vested financial component which is just as inherited to its DNA.



In fact, the prevailing models for family are totally disconnected ones at their core. Families don’t harness their immediate power, they dissipate it. Let me give you an example, and this is also where I need your help at understanding: Every odd year my family has its family reunion during the Thanksgiving holiday. We come from all over the country to converge on our small town, from whence my maternal grandparents hailed. Of course, these family reunions have financial realities which must be met. Well, my family thinks its suffices that we should pay our dues- essentially shares- to pay for all that reunions entails. Every reunion there’s a slightly muffled conversation about who didn’t pay their share, and as usual the rich uncle steps in and saves the day. After a while of this, I began to wonder what was wrong and it didn’t take long for me to see it. What my family has in place is a model for coming together to spend money, not one to make money: Essentially, a model for the dissipation of our immediate resources. We live disconnected lives, with nonquantifiable connections beyond our occasional well wishes, without a vested interest in each other’s quality of life standards.



As I came to view it in those exact terms, I began tentative discussions with certain family members to gauge reactions to the notions of a direct and purposeful venture toward establishing a family estate. The responses I received were less than lukewarm. My ideas of creating a family estate were almost immediately met by ”can’t because.” And this was the prevailing rationale from a family that’s representative of all walks of the socio-economic spectrum. I couldn’t help but think about how much we lose via our disconnects. Instead of having a family brand name wherein new generations are born into a true establishment, what we vote on is that divisiveness which only affords us a pass on the potential a true networked family would gain.



Although I used my own family here as an example, surely this has to be a common practice amongst families everywhere- the common practice of dissipating resources, as opposed to harnessing them for substantial and continued growth. I often think, if only families learned how to build from within. Families should be like trees, the members of the family are the branches sprouting leaves to absorb the world's nutrients, feeding the roots of the family tree.



I want to explore this discussion further, and I’d like honest feed back on it. What is it that causes family, the first network, to be so disconnected? Why must we continue in that trend? I want to know what other families are doing financially together toward true establishment. And I don’t mean just the immediate family, but extended ones, as well. How are large familes cutting down its overhead and creating returns on all inclusive investments? It would be good to hear of how a large family began a grassroots efforts to become more financially connected. Think about this and comment if you like. I think that this is a topic which needs further exploring, maybe I can gain some insight into how to financially connect my financially disconnected family.