My wife and I were taking a little break from work this afternoon, watching some March Madness basketball, and it was such an awesome day here in Kansas City (about 81 degrees, record high today actually), that we took some time to plant our own little garden on the deck of our apartment. We both grew up on farms in Southeast Kansas, so a garden is definitely something we both miss.

While doing so, an deep insight planted itself within my mind…

In my first few years of network marketing, I listened to Jim Rohn in my truck, constantly, everywhere I went – so much great wisdom to learn from that man – and one thing he talked about quite often was the law of sowing and reaping. That is, if you expect to have a harvest, you must first plant the seed. You can’t just sit around waiting for fruit to harvest if you never did the initial work of planting the seed and watering it in the first place.

It seems quite simple really, I mean it would sound crazy to see somebody sitting out in a field of bare soil, waiting to pick some fruit, right!? Yet, that is what I see people doing everyday when they “get started” in their network marketing businesses. Sometimes people expect money to start flowing in almost overnight. They don’t realize what they are doing is no different than the crazy man sitting out in the empty field. If you ever want results, a great income, money flowing in, and to build a big team, you have to first start sharing the message of your company with people.

And you have to plant a lot of seeds. As Jim Rohn says, going through the parable of the sower, you have to plant more seeds than you would expect, because the birds will get some, the sun will scorch and kill some of the seedlings, weeds will choke out some, and the rocky ground will keep many plants from growing and maturing.

It’s no different in your business; you must realize you will need to talk to many people to get a few who are interested in joining you in business. And even then, many who join you will never make it to the finish line and become successful – they will quit along the way or let life’s distractions keep them from reaching their goals. It’s a personal business, getting to know and helping a lot of people, but you have to keep in mind it’s a numbers game, going through lots of “no’s” and quitters before finding a few successful “Seedlings” that will lead you to the harvest.

The second part of this lesson is that you can’t expect to plant the seed and harvest tomorrow. It takes days of watering and nurturing the plants. Likewise, in your business, whether it’s network marketing – constantly finding new people and working with the team you have – or building a successful business online – daily blogging, optimizing sites and offers, getting traffic, etc – you must keep doing the correct daily disciplines necessary for success for a certain amount of time before seeing results. You must remind yourself that, if you’re doing the right activity everyday, the results will come soon…you’ve planted and watered the seeds, and the harvest isn’t too far off!

Keep on working! Don’t give up on your dreams!