Some Assembly Required!

“Honey! Please hang up the towel bar and the toilet paper holder!”

 Yeah, we remodeled our downstairs bathroom and – two weeks later – that was my last job.

I’m not much of a do-it-yourselfer. I try. I just don’t do very well.

That said, how hard can it be to hang up a towel bar and a toilet paper holder? You can do anything with the right tools.

So, I started with the towel bar. I took a quick look at the assembly instructions (I stress the word “quick”) and figured it would be a ten-minute project.

I held up the little bracket thingies and made dots with a pencil. I measured the other side and did the same.

Next I drilled holes with the 5/16 drill bit (I did read that part), but the plastic wall anchors wouldn’t fit through the holes!

“AHHHHH. NOTHING EVER GOES RIGHT FOR ME!”

So I went to the next size drill bit. Still, can’t get the anchors through the holes. Next size. Still, no.

“UNBELIEVABLE!!!!”

I look back at the instructions and see that I’m bending the anchors the wrong way. “SERIOUSLY?”

Problem is, now the holes are too big. “THIS ISN’T HAPPENING!”

Finally, I figure out a way to get three of the four brackets to secure firmly to the anchors. I get it leveled out (pretty close), and I get the towel bar up. It seems to be pretty secure.

After finishing the job, satisfied enough with my half-ass results, I began pondering how much simpler the whole project would have been if I had just taken a few minutes to review the (very short) simple assembly instructions. I mean there were only three steps!

So often we get caught up in how simple something is. “I got this. I don’t need to read instructions.”

I see this all time in network marketing.

It’s so fundamentally simple that many people don’t “bother” to read the manual in the starter kit. They never embrace the (already in place) system, and many times its a recipe for disaster that could easily have been avoided.

Think about my towel rack. I could have just screwed it to the wall with four screws and a screwdriver (like I did when I was a kid in my first apartment)! But, like back then, it would have come out of the wall with the weight of the towel.

I could have used Gorilla Glue! It would have worked just the same. But, again, it would have been short term success. And messy!

If you think about it, there’s a reason company’s include “assembly instructions” (in four different languages, no less) when something needs to be put together! Because that way ANYBODY can do it! Here’s what to do. Just follow the steps, in order, and you’ll get your desired result most of the time.

It really is the same in a network marketing business. The reason that NM companies are so successful, even though there are almost no restrictions (you have to be 18 and be able to fog a mirror), is because there’s a proven system in place for people to follow. Granted, most people aren’t successful – but that’s because 1) people quit things, 2) many think its a hobby or a lottery ticket, and 3) most people don’t realize that with a network marketing business there’s “some assembly required.” They never read (or follow) the very simple instructions.

There are successful professionals in every company that have already “built it” and they are willing to join hands and help you if you’re like me and hate following instructions! Can you imagine of the Home Depot guys would have come to my house and showed me how to hang that towel bar? If I wouldn’t let my pride get in the way, THAT would have been the perfect scenario!

Incidentally, after I hung the towel bar, it was much easier for me to put up the toilet paper holder (once I knew how to bend the plastic anchors).

“Wait, what are these little red leftover pieces?”

I go back and read the instructions.

“After inserting the wall anchors – and before applying the brackets – push the red pin into the anchor to activate it.”

“OH SHIT.”

Well, I hope it worked!

I’m Glad I Drank the Kool-Aid!