In 1971, The hit film, “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart, debuted. It was nominated a year later for an Oscar and Golden Globe award, and rightfully so. The music was incredible, the film an instant classic, and Gene Wilder a sensation; not to mention the supporting cast, and the timeless Oompa Loompa’s. So, what does network marketing have to do with Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory? A lot actually!
Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory Story
Let us remember the story. Willy Wonka shuts down his factory to protect his secret recipes from those trying to steal them. Then, 3 years later he starts producing chocolate candies and unleashes more chocolates than ever before. However, the gates remain closed. And, then, to the astonishment of everybody, he announces that he is going to open his gates. However, there are only going to be five people who get in. Willy Wonka has hidden five golden tickets in five Wonka Bars. The ones who can find the Wonka Golden Tickets will be the ones who get a lifetime supply of chocolate and a tour of the Wonka Chocolate Factory.
I cannot get past the image in my head of the crazy mad dash that announcement made. Chocolate mayhem everywhere. It seems sort of like network marketing, huh? This is the greatest business opportunity ever, get in now or BE LEFT BEHIND! Good grief, sounds like the end of the world or something. But, the urgency has been created, and everyone is mad dashing to the home based business market. Why? They want that GOLDEN TICKET! The golden ticket is going to fulfill their dreams. Question for ya. Will everyone find the ticket? What will you do with it when you do?
Willy Wonka Golden Ticket of Network Marketing
How many found the ticket in the film? 5, right? Five kids. Four of them were selfish, conceited, lacking parental guidance, spoiled rotten and mean. You remember them, Veruca Salt, “I want a goose that lays golden eggs daddy, I want it now!”, Violet Beauregarde, “I chew gum, I this, I that…”, Mike Teevee, the cowboy brat, and Augustus Gloop, well, the gluttonous pig. Finally, there is Charlie Bucket, the one who came from underneath the railroad tracks, had nothing, except he had everything, a family that loved him. Poor as dirt he was, but he had hope. I remember when he looked through the gate at the beginning of the film, the longing eyes, the wonder of the mystery that lie within.
Kinda sounds like you and me, huh? Peering through the gates of a business opportunity, wondering what lies inside for us.
- Will I ever see what is inside?
- Will I ever become successful like others?
- Will I ever be debt free?
- Will I ever have more time for my family?
- Will I ever find my Golden Ticket to get in?
I don’t want to write a book here so I will try to conclude. Every child in this film was different in nature and in attitude in one way or another, even though it was all mostly bad. The point is that they all had a golden ticket, regardless. The golden ticket is your business opportunity. It is your entrance into the factory of network marketing. It does not assure you of success. It doesn’t promise you anything. Each one of those kids determined their success or failure within the factory. For, after all, it was the factory that would make or break them.
Why did Charlie Bucket win? Why will you win in your home based business opportunity? The chocolate factory could not break who Charlie Bucket was, even in the end, when it seemed like he was a loser too. The opportunity to sell the secrets he would have no part of. This brings about another point. The factory revealed what each kid was, and why they could never be worthy of the factory. See, again, they determined their success. No one else held accountable here but them. They blew it, but Charlie did not.
Let’s here some of those oompa loompa lyrics and find out why some did not make it in the factory.
That one moment in the end, when Charlie placed that everlasting gobstopper back on Willy Wonka’s desk, said it all. “You can’t break me, Mr. Wonka. I am bonest, I have integrity.” Powerful scene for a musical comedy film. You know what the real kicker here is? In network marketing, a funny thing happens. It reveals what you are and then gives you a chance to become Charlie Bucket. Sadly, many don’t. The willy wonka golden ticket for them was an allusion, one of those things that, who they are, says – it just doesn’t work.
To Your Success,
