I can still hear the sound of the pieces of my shattered illusion falling to the concrete floor of the classroom.

There was there’s no such thing as scientific objectivity. There was no way one could isolate the variables and run a pure experiment; It was not possible.

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep this revelation to myself; I assumed that the other 30 students heard the same thing as me.

And even worse?

I opened my mouth and began to explain to the PhD who was teaching the class why everything I had been teaching for the last 2 hours was possible only in theory, impossible in the field, even in the laboratory field. The professor was, to put it mildly, unhappy with my revelation and the fact that I chose to verbalize it.

Fifteen years in various iterations of network marketing, online marketing, advertising, and sales have taught me some painful lessons that may be of use to you.

1. Most of us do not appreciate the person who shows us the error of their thinking, their lifestyle or even their speech to a prospect.
2. While it is important to find and follow a mentor, it is essential to step forward on our own and go our own way.
3. At first, it is essential to follow the rules, but to grow, we must learn that there is only one rule: there is no rules.

Seth Godin says it best with a phrase that I think of and often quote: “Don’t expect applause.”

Whenever we come across what can best be defined as truth, we must recognize that most people will resist him and us. AND suppose that resistance rather than being hurt or intimidated by it.

When we start to learn something, be it network marketing or religion, we need the help of those who have gone before us. We need to read what they have written and listen to what they have to teach us.

But as we move forward, we must shoulder the burden of what we have learned and move on, even if it means leaving a beloved mentor behind. If we don’t, we run the risk of becoming a pale facsimile of that person, we never discover what there is to learn, uniquely.

Ruler are comfortable, safe; and they are essential for most situations in which they are applied; that’s why the rule exists.

But growth as entrepreneurs, as human beings, requires that we clearly see those situations for which there is no rule, as opportunities, which are worth as much our time and energy as the moments in which we discard everything we have been taught.