For something different for this blog, I would like to compare work today with the lifestyles of our hunter-gatherer past. I have foraged extensively with Aborigines across many remote regions of Australia and so can comment with some authority.
Foraging strategies
Irrespective of where my informants lived, desert or coast, they started the day with a strategy that was appropriate to their location. If in the desert, they knew where rain had fallen in the last few months through observation and a visual memory highly tuned and adapted over thousands of years of survival. Once rain falls in the desert, food appears over the next few months so foraging there makes sense if the seasons, water and available foods make the walk into the region possible.
For coastal people, particularly in the tropical north of Australia, foraging strategies were more focused on the food resources than past rains. Seasons were more reliable and so groups of foods were more predictable and key foods dictated the foraging strategies.
Tools and tactics
For both groups and those in all 600 Aboriginal nations around the country, bush calendars relate seasons, plant and animal behavior and the abundance or otherwise of resources as well as the progression of successive foods. There’s no point walking into a region to harvest even an abundant food if you then need to trek out of the area walking unimaginable distances without water or food for an uncertain outcome.
Utilize your strengths
Each group I foraged with had individuals who were known for their particular skills eg tracking, hunting large game or smaller ones, finding yams or wild honey or honey ants, preparing seeds or ‘singing’ out mangrove worms from the stumps in which they burrow. This provided the leveraging of skills to enhance outcomes. However, whatever the skill, individuals still depended on the social structure for support, so much so that there were no Aboriginal kings or queens.
Learn from your Elders, from history and your environment
It was an egalitarian society which respected the Elders’ knowledge and took the time for consultative meetings. There were many times when I was directed to seek the knowledge of certain Elders because it was their country or it was simply the right thing to do. Often I got the approval from the Elder to go with my original informant as he knew the country too.
Take time off
The success of these strategies allowed each of the 600 Nations to not only survive but prosper for 60,000 years and enjoy extended periods each day relaxing, pursuing social and creative activities, teaching the young, caring for the elderly and preserving the knowledge of the world’s longest living culture. The richness of the art, songs, dancing, stories and music all reflect the free time that was available.
Build your toolkit, learn your profession and communicate
Their skill set included environmental management; deep and intimate knowledge of plant and animal species; survival strategies of significant climatic influences such as 50 year droughts, floods, wildfires and other natural disasters; the ability to speak the 3 to 5 distinct languages of their neighbours and extended families, languages as different as Spanish, Italian, Greek, English, Dutch and German; and knowledge of a complex pharmacopoeia and the ability to find appropriate medicines and process them wherever they might find themselves at any time of the year.
So how does this relate to network marketing?
Marketing Strategies, planning your outcomes and free time
Plan each day, adjust strategies eg your method of reaching out to candidates, online or off-line marketing methods. Set daily outcomes. I like the Agile Results System which sets 3 goals for your day, week, month and year. This is just like finding food each day, doing the important things for resource management and planning your free time as a hunter-gatherer. Enjoy extended periods of free time recognizing that long hours of work detract from your quality of life. Plan your time off. Life is made richer by the non-work experiences you share with significant others.
Utilize your strengths
Play to your strengths rather than focus on your weaknesses. If necessary, outsource tasks in which you are not proficient and concentrate on your core abilities. Set up systems for repetitive tasks. Use video as a means to communicate these systems to others (Aborigines used stories, music and dance to entertain and educate and developed impressive spacial and relational visual memory). Self-educate to enhance your strengths. Learn how to invite and sponsor. Effective communication, strategic persistence and situational flexibility are key attributes.
Build your toolkit and learn your profession
Use tools that are available or create your own. The Kakadu Online Marketing System is one resource but there are many others such as sizzle calls, introductions on video and CD, Internet and attraction marketing, 3rd party networking tools, ready-made splash pages, list builders, PPC, CPV, solo ads, social media. Become the messenger, not the message.
Learn from your Elders, from history and your environment
Rely on the experience of those who have done it before. Work as a team to better leverage the results. Remain humble and acknowledge the contribution of others. Learn from your team’s successes. Contingency plans are important as are multiple approaches for income generation. This might be retailing some product, finding other retailers and the more leveraged approach of finding those interested in the business.
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