What I’d tell someone who wants to start a business.

If I’m honest, I wouldn’t start with business plans, branding, or a perfect logo.

I’d start with one skill: learn to sell something.

Not in a pushy, “salesy” way. In the real-world way that keeps the lights on when you’re self-employed. Selling is how you learn what people actually value.

It’s how you get feedback from the market. It’s how you build confidence, resilience, and judgement.

And it’s how you avoid the trap most new business owners fall into: being brilliant at the work, but unsure how to win clients.

If you can sell, you can survive.
If you can sell and deliver, you can grow.

And if that young person also said to me, “I want to learn how to build a referral network,” I’d tell them to take a serious look at network marketing.

Not because it’s easy. Not because it’s guaranteed. But because, done properly, it can be one of the best training grounds you’ll find for learning the fundamentals that every entrepreneur needs.

Network marketing isn’t an industry. It’s a route to market.

I don’t see network marketing as a sector like construction or hospitality. No one is 'in' network marketing. Network Marketing is a method of distribution and customer acquisition, sitting alongside things like affiliate marketing, referral-led growth, licensing, franchising, and direct-to-consumer models.

The method itself isn’t automatically good or bad. It’s how it’s taught and how it’s practised that decides what it becomes.

Why it gets a bad rap (and why I understand it)

I understand why people react emotionally to network marketing. Most people don’t reject it after a careful, logical analysis. They reject it because of what they’ve seen: overpromising, pressure, awkward DMs, and “certainty theatre” from people who are still learning.

When the language is hype-led but the understanding is still beginner-level, people can smell the mismatch.

And the audience isn’t just judging the model. They’re judging the certainty and authenticity of the person explaining it.

The uncomfortable truth: most people won’t succeed

Most people who start won’t succeed.

That sounds harsh until you compare it to anything else. Most people who join a gym don’t get fit. Most people who start a side hustle don’t turn it into a meaningful income. The model isn’t the issue. Inconsistency is.

In network marketing, people often don’t succeed because they don’t treat it like a business. They skip training. They don’t develop the skills. They don’t speak to enough people. They avoid follow-up. They worry more about what others think than what they think.

That doesn’t mean they can’t do it. Most can.
It means they didn’t build the habits required.

What it teaches (when it’s done properly)

This is where I think network marketing is misunderstood.

At its best, it teaches four foundational business skills:

• how to communicate and sell with confidence
• how to build trust through consistency and usefulness
• how to grow through relationships, introductions, and referrals
• how to lead by helping other people improve (not just “motivating” them)

If someone genuinely learns those skills, they can succeed in almost any business model.

What I look for before I take any opportunity seriously

I’m not impressed by hype. I’m interested in standards.

If I’m assessing a network marketing opportunity, I look for:

• a product people keep buying (not just trying once)
• training that teaches skills, not slogans
• leadership that’s honest about effort and time
• a culture that values customers and retention, not just recruitment
• clarity about what can go wrong (because it can)

Authenticity matters here. The ability to say, “this isn’t for everyone” is often the sign you’re dealing with grown-ups.

A simple place to start (without the cringe)

If I were mentoring a beginner, I’d give them one focus for 30 days:

Build certainty through repetition, not promises.

Do the training. Practise the conversations. Learn how to explain what it is and what it isn’t. Show up consistently, even when you feel wobbly. Certainty is earned.

And if you don’t yet have all the answers, the most professional thing you can say is:

“I’m still learning, but I can show you the full picture — what it is, what it isn’t, what’s involved, and what can go wrong.”

That sentence builds trust faster than any income claim ever will.

The question I’m exploring

Am I rejecting network marketing… or am I rejecting the way it’s often introduced?

If you’ve got a view (good, bad, or somewhere in the middle), I’d genuinely like to hear it. Most opinions were formed from one experience — and I think it’s worth asking whether that experience was the method… or the messenger.

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