> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://graham-thompson.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 3. IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE INVOLVED IN NETWORK MARKETING, DECIDE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL. - URL: https://graham-thompson.ghost.io/3if-youre-going-to-be-involved-in-network-marketing-decide-to-be-a-professional/ - Published: 2026-09-02T13:45:32.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-11T11:15:34.000Z - Author: Graham Thompson There are three categories of people in Network Marketing. I've seen all of them and I've been all of them. They are the Posers, the Amateurs, and the Professionals. ## Posers Posers treat this profession as a lottery ticket. They're hoping to hit it big with as little effort as possible. When I first started out, I was a Poser, hoping to ride on my dad and his partner’s coattails. Luckily for me, I got some results and that kept me going, at least in the short-term. But I think you can agree with me that remaining in the Poser category is a bad idea. Within about 90 days I moved out of that category and became an Amateur. ## Amateurs Amateurs focus on different things. One of the things I continued to focus on as an amateur was luck. I was really hoping to get lucky and sign that monster distributor who was going to make me rich. We've all heard the stories of some person who had their lives completely changed by one sign-up. In reality, even if some of those stories are true, it really doesn't serve our profession very well, because it makes people spend their time hoping for that big hit. The second thing I focused on as an amateur was timing. I was always worried about timing. Did I get in early enough? Could I be the youngest top-level person in the company? How many other leaders were already in my local market? Were there too many to compete against? Were there enough to get true momentum? How was the company? Was it too big? Did I miss the growth curve? Was it too small? I was obsessed with the idea of timing. The third thing I focused on as an amateur was positioning. Was I in the right organization? Did other people have a better position than me? Maybe I didn’t have the right upline. Would I do better somewhere else? And the fourth thing I focused on as an amateur was shortcuts. I was always looking for an angle. Any gimmick that came down the road, I was up for it. Newspaper advertising? Okay. Help wanted signs by the side of the road? Let's go do it. Passing out fliers at the mall? I'm in. Going door to door? Let's try it. The Internet didn't exist when I was an amateur. Just imagine how crazy I would have been over all the Internet tactics I could have used to distract myself. What that meant was, every time I heard of some shiny new approach being trained by anyone in the world, I was digging into it to try to find the shortcut. And then, I finally made the decision to Go Pro. Wikipedia's definition of a professional is, “A person who is paid to undertake a specialized set of tasks and to complete them for a fee.” My definition of a Network Marketing Professional is, “A person who is an expert at the skills required to build a large and successful Network Marketing organization.” There is a phrase in our profession that does more harm than good. It says, “Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.” The point of this phrase is that it’s better to be excited and ignorant than it is to be apathetic and smart. That may be true, but why do we have to choose one or the other? Let me give you an example. Let's say you were in need of an operation. At the hospital you meet your doctor. He comes in and says, “I'm very excited to conduct your operation. I’m so passionate about it I could hardly sleep. No one on earth wants to help you more than I do.” You say, “Wow, thanks Doctor. How long have you been doing these type of operations?” And he says, “Well, I've never had any schooling on this particular operation, and I've never practiced and I've never done one, but it doesn't matter because I’m so passionate!” How are you going to feel? Enthusiasm is great, but eventually you need to marry that passion with skill. Professional athletes will devote endless hours to preparing for competition but when they join Network Marketing, they won't give one day’s worth of effort to learning our skills. Doctors will devote a decade of their lives at huge financial expense to become physicians, but when they join Network Marketing they won't give a month's study and practice to become a Network Marketing Pro. In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell's research showed it takes approximately 10,000 hours of practice to reach the expert level at anything. With four hours a day of practice, that adds up to about seven years. That formula applies to Network Marketing as well. It’s going to take about seven years for you to become world-class. The good news is, the profession is very forgiving and you can earn a lot of money while you're becoming an expert. The trick is not to get complacent; don’t stop learning while you're earning. When I made the decision to Go Pro, everything changed for me. I stopped focusing on luck, timing, positioning, and shortcuts. I even stopped focusing on the money. My world changed when I started focusing on the skills and made the commitment to practice, practice, practice, until I mastered them. Another thing happened when I decided to Go Pro. All of a sudden, my group started to grow. It was like people could sense my change of focus and my commitment to excellence and they wanted to be a part of it. Think about a time in your life when you were around a person committed to excellence. It might have been a teacher, a coach, a boss or a friend. How did it make you feel? It was inspiring, right? You'll find you will be an inspiration to others when you make this important shift. Bottom line: If you're going to be involved in this great profession, decide to do it right and treat it like a profession. If you Go Pro, this business is great. If you stay a Poser or an Amateur, you're going to be miserable. And by now, you've noticed I use the word profession a lot. I do that on purpose. Network Marketing is more than just a project. It’s not an industry. It's a profession. If you do it right, it’s truly a career choice. It can take you out of working in a job that doesn't make you happy to a place of total freedom. That's why I called my website NetworkMarketingPro.com. Here’s what I tell people every day: “Ladies and gentlemen, my wish for you is that you decide to become a Network Marketing Professional—that you decide to Go Pro, because it is a stone-cold fact that we have a better way. Now let’s go tell the world.” When the site launched on March 11, 2009, very few people called themselves Network Marketing Professionals. That's no longer the case. Millions of people have changed the way they think about our business, and I'm proud of that fact. I look forward to the day when it’s common for people to hear: • I'm a doctor, but I'm also a Network Marketing Professional. • I work in construction, but I'm also a Network Marketing Professional. • I'm an athlete, but I'm also a Network Marketing Professional. The more people hear those words, the more the world will be ready for a better way.