You’ve seen the movie and probably thought Erin Brockovich was either one of the strongest women you’ve met or one huge pain in the rear.  Well, I happen to think she has some great lesson for women in general and women network marketers in specific. 

Let me refresh your memory.  Erin was a single mom with three kids.  She was involved in some sort of auto accident and couldn’t work.  She had $3.00 in her savings account and her attorney, Ed, was not helping.  The court case was lost, and Erin couldn’t talk to Ed, so she goes to the office, begins helping out, and convinces Ed to get her a job.  She does all the footwork for a case that ends up being the largest case against PG&E that was settled for over $400 million. 

So why do I look to Erin for inspiration in my networking business.  It seams such a stretch from a law firm, because Erin is pretty much the same as me.  I wasn’t rich growing up, and while I didn’t win any beauty contests, I do feel that I am going to do something in my life.  Another thing I really identify with is Erin being her own person.  Erin was tired of the life she had and knew the only way out was to take charge and make things happen. 

Erin got to the place where she stopped accepting no for an answer.  I’m not talking about being in anyone face until they say yes to your opportunity.  No, what I’m talking about has to do with stopping to accept that your life won’t get better>  I’m also talking about not listening and accepting when someone tells you your opportunity is o good.  It’s not a good opportunity for them, but you’re not them.  Move on find someone else whose ready for your opportunity. 

Erin also kept her chin up with her kids. I admire that. Things were stacked against her, but her kids didn’t know.  Her cupboards were bare and she had enough money to take the kids to dinner, but not enough for her.  She told her kids that she had eaten earlier, and never let on to her kids that times were really bad.  Now, I know some of you are saying, “You can’t lie to others”, and “She was wrong, she should have told them how bad it really was.”  But Erin knew things were going to get better.  She was looking into the future, she had vision.  She knew that she was going to make something of her life, and that in the end everything was going to be fine.  She didn’t want to burden her children with the mundane stuff they couldn’t do anything about.   

Which is my point, you shouldn’t try to bring doom and gloom to others, when they can’t do anything about it.  Another thing she did was not reinforcing the bad times, but enforcing the good.  By staring in the face, the bad times, and not cowering, they will go away much faster.  By standing up and saying that I’m going to do something, anything, to get to where I know I’m supposed to be, destined to be, you get there much faster. 

So, what else did she do?  Erin carved out a niche for herself.  She started working without being hired, and then got hired, then she went on to learn the ropes of investigating and putting together thousands of people for a common cause.  Wow!  If that’s not the heart of network marketing, what is?  No one taught Erin how to interview people either.  She just talked to people.  Actually she listened more then talked.  She went into these peoples home and found out what their problems were and she cared about them.  Erin knew every person in Hinkley, and what their ailments were, who their kids were and she knew how each was related to the other. 

If you want to build a large organization, what you have to do more then anything else, is listen to people and offer a solution to their problem.  It doesn’t matter if the problem is getting braces for Tommy, or losing 50 pounds, if you don’t know what their problem is, how are you going to offer a solution.  And you have to continue to listen to people as their problems change over time.  What was a problem a year ago, today seems so insignificant or trivial.  You know it’s true, just think back one year ago and what you thought at the time was your biggest problem.  Is it the same biggest problem of today?  Probably not.  So you can’t stop listening and caring about those in your organization.   

But don’t try to go out and save the world.  It just doesn’t work.  You can offer a solution, but it’s up to the person to take it.  In the movie, there were dozens of people who didn’t sign on to Erin’s plan, so Erin focused on the ones who did.  She didn’t stop caring for the others though, she just didn’t feel a responsibility to them.  Big difference that most women especially myself just don’t get.  We feel that if we have a solution to a problem, that if we don’t get everyone on that solution that somehow we’re failing.  Not so, in fact, we are succeeding more then we know.  We are showing those around us, that we do care but are allowing them their freedom to choose, because we respect their decisions.  We may be feeling inside that they are pretty silly, but we don’t show that to them. 

Other ways Erin met the community included having meetings.  One was disguised as a picnic in the park, but it was a meeting nonetheless.  It was a time where people got to talk about the issue in a low stress environment, and Erin made contacts and made the townsfolk feels comfortable with her.  She also gathered them together to untie them.  The townsfolk had to either come together or see their case fall apart.  So Erin and Ed presented the problem and options to them and let them decide.  They even told a story about other people in a similar situation and the results they had.  This one meeting brought the whole group together and untied them.   You can do this in a number of ways.  Use a conference call, use on on-line training room, or hold a meeting in your area and invite everyone to attend.  What you have to do though is to identify a universal problem or problems, and offer a solution to those problems that people can see as a viable solution.  In other words they have to believe the solution can benefit them.  How do you get their belief?  Tell them a story they can identify with.  Tell them your success story, and that if you can do it, they are much more talented, etc, that they’ll have no problem doing it to.   

Use the assets you have whether they are politically correct or not.  One of my favorite lines in the movie is, has to be “They’re called boobs, Ed.”  Erin needed some information, and she used all her assets to get it.  I’m not saying that you have to dress like Erin, flashing your boobs.  In most instances that would not work, but I am saying that if you have an asset use it.  That asset might be an award winning smile, or the way to gently touch someone’s arm as you’re talking with him or her.  It could be anything.  Identify two or three assets you have and work on using those to help you help others. 

You also can’t let anything stop you from getting to where you’re going.  Even though she had three kids, Erin found ways in which the kids were either taken care of, or she took them with her to accomplish her mission.  We have to be just as focused.  The only thing that keeps you from accomplishing your goals is yourself.  It doesn’t matter if those goals are to make a million dollars or what.  Until we stop making excuses about the kids, about our spouse or significant other, about having to get the laundry done, ad infinitum until I’m just too exhausted to think about achieving any goal other then the Calgon bath, which I’m too tired to draw, etc.  Get the picture?  Be committed to yourself and your goals.  Don’t listen to when others tell you, you can’t because.  Don’t listen when you tell yourself you can’t because.  For the past six years, I have not allowed my son to tell me he can’t do anything.  I want him to grow up looking for ways to get things done.  As women we always find solutions for others, but put ourselves on the back burner.  When in reality, if we would just heed our own advice, we’d be out accomplishing our goals, and having to set new ones. 

The last two things I learned from this movie have to do with being yourself and asking questions.  Erin was always herself no matter what.  That made her real and the townsfolk really related and responded positively to that.  By remaining true to who you are and allowing others to see you, you make them comfortable, and reassure them that you truly care about not only them, but about your cause.  And you cause is your opportunity.  People don’t want to be outside their comfort zones, nor do they want to be involved with someone they feel is fake.  So when you show them sincerity and kindness and allow them to see the real you, they can relax and feel comfortable. 

Erin also asked a lot of questions to Ed about how things worked, and how to interview people to get the best results.  This is important.  Knowing what questions to ask to get the desired results is a skill.  Erin had many natural talents, but asking the “right” questions is not a talent, but a skill.  Skills are things that we learn from observing others, or by being taught directly.  Find someone to either observe, or teach you the skills you need. 

So, Erin has taught me a lot about network marketing.  From honing my interviewing skills to never allowing others to take the shine off my vision.  Food for thought from an unconventional source.