Are you familiar with the mlm business model? In the old days it was referred to as multi-level marketing. It has been around for 50 years now and amazingly has survived that long!

1. I think the biggest reason this business model has survived is it is built on hope. People join network marketing businesses every day hoping they can make extra money or even get rich.

In the past a few people really achieved that goal. However far many more quit their MLM business.

This was not necessarily a fault of the business model, as much as it was the fault of the individuals themselves. Building a network marketing business in the past was very hard to do, so most didn’t.

2. Today affiliate marketing is a popular business model. You can get products now in almost every type of business. This is part of the reason network marketing has survived.

Purchasing products at wholesale is something the average public cannot do. You are also beginning to find MLM businesses in many niches as well.

3. Today the Internet plays a big role in how successful people are in making my money in multi-level marketing. It simply is much easier to build a large business all over the world thanks to the Internet.

No longer do you have to rely on friends and family to jumpstart your business. Now you can promote your business on the Internet and let your system sort out prospects.

This lets you concentrate on marketing and less on doing things you may not enjoy such as picking up the telephone calling people.

The other thing the Internet does is it make it easier to sell products. This means you can earn money quicker and do it in a very hands off way.

Auto ship is a great feature the Internet has brought to network marketers. Now you can sell a product one time and get paid over and over every month your customer has the product shipped to them.

4. Training is another aspect the Internet has brought which helps in building a large downline. The network marketing company can offer training to all of their distributors.

Each individual MLM business owner can offer training to their own group. This is being done through various social media outlets including blogging, videos, audio, online chatting, and so on.

In summary network marketing has survived and is thriving as a business model because it is easier now to make money. As a matter of fact people who failed previously are finally finding success!

Professional Internet marketer Mark Babcock helps average people make money and create extraordinary incomes from home. If you are looking for extra money ideas visit his website today so he can begin helping you.

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Network marketing may possibly be tricky. A lot of people are aware that they may possibly be scammed or could be webbed into something they might not get out of. But of course, this entirely depends on the legitimacy of your multi level marketing business. Provided that that your organization is 100% legal to trade, then here are several tips to do multi level marketing in a very easy way.

1. Think Positive. Your outlook will establish it. Think of all the profits that you can get. Remember, the most difficult clients you will encounter are the first ones. So don’t quit. If you can manage to get your initial two recruits or referrals, the rest will follow as simple as pie.

2. Focus on the benefit. Yes, it can be that your family and friends will listen in detail to your sales pitch but may put you off in the long run. They always seem to say no, although nicely. Well, you need not force them. But if you emphasize what they could be missing if they don’t sign-up, the tables may turn. You may get more recruits than you might ever expect.

3. Make use of the internet. Networking is uncomplicated if you can connect with several people. Produce a website. Begin forums and discussions. Tell each person you encounter on the internet about the fantastic opportunity. The law of averages is applicable here. The more persons you talk to, the more persons you might convince.

4. Choose your market. If your mlm company has a specific product, let’s say bath soaps, you will draw more to women than men. You will save a lot of pains and energy if you pre pick your prospects than just hitting on everyone you run into. Pre-qualify, but be vigilant not to overdo it.

5. Be Skilled. You have to show to your clients your trust in your product and the opportunity. You have to wholly comprehend all its nuances. This way, you can explain the process fully in a solitary run. If you understand a lot concerning your products, more folks will have faith in you.

6. Have First-hand Knowledge. It would be trouble-free to sell if you, yourself, have established that the structure works. You can illustrate to your candidates your own revenue, paychecks, and collectibles. Show them how successful it is with you. If it has worked for you, chances are, it will succeed for them too.

7. Assign Referrals. A multi level marketing business seldom is being only based on the company’s and your personality and character as its salesperson. This is remarkably true if there is a need for an initial investment. Demonstrate to them it is lawful. Prove to them you are honorable. You must to do that to work with them.

8. Demonstrate the Company’s Financial Capacity. If they desire to earn big, they aim to get it. Individuals should feel that they won’t get ignored when they expect to collect their earnings. If they can establish the company’s financial clout in advance, then they won’t have worries about their pay being held or not issued promptly.

9. Be Encouraging. People who are having second thoughts about all of these would want other guidance and help. Be sure to notice persons who are only buying time for the reason that they can’t make up their minds immediately. Help them decide. Be at hand to their wishes. Focus on their apprehensions. Gather all your convincing talent

10. Use Each Online Tool To hand. The internet has numerous avenues and tools you can use freely. Make your own weblog. Market with different websites. Become a member of an affiliate program. There are many valuable things online that you can benefit from.

Multi level marketing is a concept that can make you make residual income quite effortlessly. Although it becomes easy just when your first line of candidates are all doing as well. But past that, multi level marketing is certain to give you riches, especially if done the appropriate way.

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Why would you disturb your family and friends about your network marketing opportunity, with millions of prospects coming online everyday? I think doing that is a bad idea and you certainly should just leave your family and friends alone.

Here is why I say that!

1. Many people in multilevel marketing have been in another Multi-level marketing business before. Odds are very good that if you are one of them you have already approached your family and friends.

Unfortunately you may already have approached them more than once! Maybe it’s time you left them alone.

2. What you might want to do with your family and friends is tell them about the excellent product you are using. That might be something they are interested in.

This is where women are so good. They are natural networkers and can talk about the product in the course of an everyday chat.

This will increase your cash flow because of your solid customer base. And some of them will naturally check out the business opportunity or ask about it if they are interested.

3. Did you know over 100,000 people Google search the words “make money” every month. Just as many or more look for for words “work from home”. These are two main keyword phrases that are being searched.

When you start adding in all the variations of these words plus other words like network marketing opportunity, home business, Internet business, make money at home, business program, and so on, you get the idea of how many prospects look for ways to make money every day.

These are the people you should be targeting. These people are already interested in finding ways to earn money.

They certainly have a need, and an interest. What they don’t have yet is a real way to make more money. These are the people you should be targeting letting the Internet do the hard work for you.

You never have to go through a personal rejection that way. Your business can be identifying prospects and helping recruit them around the clock every day of the year!

You can advertise your business all over the internet in as many ways as you have time and money for. You do this on your computer from the comfort of your onw home. You do not call or meet people this way.

Hopefully the network marketing business you are in has a system in place for using the Internet to create leads. You should never rely 100% on their system, but it is a good way to get started.

In the end you are better to increase your own email list and follow-up with prospects that are truly interested. If you will do this every day you will never have to contact your family or friends about your network marketing business.

If you are working at building your mlm business you understand how important fresh leads are on a consistent basis. The Internet has made it easier to develop MLM leads yet many network marketers struggle with this.

Before we go over how many leads your business needs there are a few things you need to think about.

1. Where are the leads being generated from? This forces us to consider quality over quantity.

The Internet can be helpful however if your prospects have no idea who you are you will need more of them find quality prospects. Many network marketers resort to purchasing leads because it’s easier to do.

However, this can affect how many leads we need every day as well. If the company is giving you recycle leads that have already been contacted by many other MLM business owners, you’ll need to purchase more of them to get the same results.

2. How are you following up with your leads? The most popular way to follow up is to put the leads into an autoresponder and drip messages on them.

This is certainly better than not following up on all. An even better way is to contact them directly yourself via email, online chat, or telephone. Developing personal contact with your leads will help increase your conversion rate.

3. Do you have an email list? This is a key factor in following up over a long period of time. Many MLM companies will let you buy leads and follow-up for you.

A better way is to build your own list and follow up directly via email. This way you can not only promote your MLM business but you can promote other things as well.

If you look at the leader board on most network marketing businesses the top producers are people with a large email list. This allows them to build their business quicker because of how quickly they can sponsor new distributors.

4. Are you promoting a landing page? This is just a page with a short sign up form you use to capture your prospects name and email address.

Promoting a landing page is a quicker way to build your list than sending your visitors directly to your website or blog. Plus you can test various landing pages to see which ones give you the best results.

5. Where are you promoting your mlm business? Today social marketing helps create quality leads. This allows you to get to know people before they join your mailing list.

Ultimately your MLM business goals will help you decide how many leads you need everything. These five factors should be considered and used to help motivate you to build a quality list. These will help you make money online with your network marketing business.

Internet Network selling is much more beneficial than advertising on the internet because of the group spirit, support from the upline group, support from the company, the leverage, and the residual income. When folks look to join mlm they are looking for a way to freedom.

Additionally it costs much less to start up your own network selling business. Those network marketers who become successful work as a team. Building teams all over the world can be very exciting, when it comes time to meet people in the group in their own country.

selling retail products on the internet is different to Internet Network selling in a number of ways:

1) The Leverage

Network marketers have a group of people advertising the company products and people are paid based on the whole group’s efforts, and this is leverage of your time. A network marketer can leverage his or her time even more, by using the internet.

They can use Webinars, VOIP Calls, and Internet selling systems, to speak with prospects and to train their people, hundreds at one time if required.

In contrast, a marketer doing retail on the internet needs to work consistently on optimizing their websites and/or pay for advertising.

Internet Marketers cannot get leverage unless they are very clever in creating their own product and find affiliates to aggressively promote for them. This way of promotion is very challenging for an internet marketer.

2) The Residual Income with a Network Marketing business happens faster on-line

Residual income is that which comes every week or each month, even if you take a holiday. Those who earn six figure incomes in network marketing do the same amount of work they did when earning 4 or 5 figure incomes.

As each leader is trained, that leader looks after their own teams, so the leader at the head of the group is still only looking after a similar number of people.

So, a network marketer can stop working and still receive residual income, just as an author of a book continues to receive income long after the book has been written.

When a network marketer sells the business’s product online, and teaches their downline to attract customers in the same way, that network marketer gets paid commissions on all their downline’s sales also.

When internet marketers teach other internet marketers, they only get paid for the teaching, and Not on all the sales of those they have taught.

Internet marketers earn some residual income if they promote affiliate programs. A network marketer has the ability to earn a lot more income from a network marketing compensation plan than an affiliate marketer can earn.

Affiliate marketers may earn a little from one or two levels below them, but a network marketing compensation plan allows network marketers to earn many different bonuses, and get paid on many different levels. Some mlm companies pay commissions on all levels, and this translates to a lot of additional income to that which affiliate marketers get from one or two levels.

3) support from business and Upline group Members

With internet network promotion, the company and it’s assistance team are there to assist with all the operational details of the business, and even with some of the selling. A network selling business ships products for the network marketer, does the money transactions, and handles product returns and complaints.

In addition, most companies provide a lot of training, plus websites for marketing and some advertising tools. Network marketers only need to pay for additional advertising and promotion tools.

In contrast, internet marketers don’t usually have a business to give them support and they pay all the advertising costs, website hosting, training, merchant bank fees, and other start up costs.

4) The group Spirit

Network Marketers work as a team, they have an upline support team and all those who join them are part of their team. Assisting others in the team to earn money is a lot of fun and making friends with people from all different countries is even more fun when you go to meet them and see their country or city. Another advantage of group work, is that Network marketers share the advertising costs throughout the group.

As a marketer on the internet, it’s rather lonely because everything is done on your own. As an Internet marketers you only get paid on what you do, and you do all the work by yourself, (unless you pay someone to assist you).

To summarise, a network marketer has many advantages, especially on the internet. Network marketers have more residual income because they are paid on the whole team’s efforts, there is support from upline and the company, they have more leverage and they get the benefits of being part of a team.

There are so many ways and so many tricks of the trade to learn. What we discovered was that there was some really good info out there on who to use the power of the internet to market your business. This free training lead us to a system that we have used to get great leads, folks that were looking for what we had to offer. That was the main goal in using a system like we use is it brings in folks who are really looking for what you have to offer. In any business you need leads even your home based mlm.

I’ll show you move by step how to generate content on the net that’s valuable and helps people connect with you. This is a way of getting Network Marketing leads for your home based mlm except you only talk to people that are actively looking for what you have to recommend.

Initial you have to consider about who your trying to draw to you, or what kind of leads you’d like to get. You can do this by answering a vital question. What obstacle does my product or service solve? Let’s say that your business has a remarkable weight loss product and your weight loss product is all natural, organic, and safe for kids to take. Your objective market could be parent or grandparent who have overweight kids. This is just one example but in almost all cases you’ll have a ton of target markets. You’ll want your message to be the most powerful by speaking to one specific niche. This way when your target market reads or sees your message they say, “wow, this is precisely what I’ve been looking for”! free mlm leads don’t just jump in your lap but when you conect with someone they are bound to want to know more about you and to give you their info.

This first step is the most significant. understand who you’re speaking to. Who are they and why are you speaking to them and not another group.

Now that you have figured out who you’re talking to the next step is to let them know you understand how they feel about the challenge at hand. This is very influential because if you can identify with the challenge that they have it goes a long way to making you a credible source. Let’s go back to the weight loss example for now. We have figured out that we are targeting our message to parents with overweight kids. Now start thinking what some of what they may be thinking about. Why would having an over weight child be a obstacle? Why would the parents be seeking a solution? How do they feel about the problem? First, they may be feeling worried about what other kids are saying about there child at school, or they may be concerned that their child is unhealthy. They could be worried about diseases like diabetes or depression. That means that by knowing exactly who you’re talking to and how they may be feeling your message will jump right out at them because it speaks directly to their needs and wants. Your message must be unlike than what’s typically out there. usually most marketer’s put out a blanket product or service description and hopes that someone reads or sees it. I think you can start to see the difference and at the end we will put the whole thing together.

Speak directly to your target markets emotions let them know you understand how they feel. Every good product solves a challenge. imagine of the electric can opener. This was impressive for women who were tired of braking there nails while trying to open up a can. Every product solves a challenge and everyone feels someway toward the challenge. Let your target market understand you can relate.

Put it all together into one package. What problem are you solving? Who are you solving it for? What are you solving it with? Why are they looking for a resolution? How can you help? This is how you get people to give you their contact information so you can help them with the challenge at hand. You have established the obstacle you have established why the obstacle needs to be addressed and last you must convince them that you are the one to solve the challenge for them. Lets first talk about what you’ve already done for them that no one else has. You have proven you know what’s going on with them and you’ve shown them you know how they feel. This goes a long long way because as we talked about before most everyone else just gives blanket info and hopes they get a few hits. You have related with your prospect or perspective customer and so you have made a human connection! This is what this process is all about, showing your prospect that your a real personal who knows how they feel and wants to help. Tell them why what you have is the superlative way for them to go about solving the obstacle. Let’s go back to our overweight kid’s parents. I’ll give you an overview of the message we’ve come up with.

Over 40% of American kids are over weight leading to juvenal diabetes and self-esteem problems. If you’re worried about your child’s weight and would like some help from someone who knows what your going through please call now for a free consultation because help is just a call away and you’ve waited long enough.

This message could be made into a blog article, condensed into a twitter comment, a blip on your fasebook page, or a comment on a blog for weight loss tips, an email, and so on and so on. After you answer all the questions put it all together.

Ok here is the last step. Now you need to know what to do with your message once you have written it or videoed it. The superlative place to start is to go thru the same process that your customer or prospect would go thru. Keep in mind you are targeting a very precise group. Search in Google as 70% of all searches happen there. But you should also look thru sites like ehow, digg, mix, folked, ezines, twitter, fasebook, myspace, GoArticals, you tube, meta cafe, blogroll, wordpress, Technorati, hub pages, Add This, Delicious, and so many more. See what happens is that when you get some good subject matter going that is constructed using the formula we just talked about it draws attention and by using these or any other social media what happens is that the major search engines will index your subject matter on these sites and you’ll end up in the search results for what ever it is that you recommend. This is how the big dogs do it and it’s also how major corporations construct ad’s to and get there message out there. So at the bottom you’ll see the simple formula on how to construct your message so folks will contact you for what you have to offer and not you having to bug your friends and family to death to look at something that they probably could use by don’t want. No one know this better than me. My friends and family wouldn’t answer my calls for a wile there before I started marketing on-line. I laid it on way to thick. I got some bad advice from my up-line and the biggest obstacle was that my up-line was so against anything on-line that they told me to stay away from marketing on-line. It’s wasn’t their fault they just didn’t understand how to take business to the net, they had been taking business to there friends and family and other networkers for so long that they couldn’t see any other way. I had no other options as I had gone thru my contacts in the first month or two and just couldn’t see talking to everyone around me every place I went about my business for the rest of my life. I mean do you meet anyone else but networkers who do that? Just imagine if a painter who was in line with you at the store started talking about how impressive he painted and asked to come over and show you his work! You might get a bit creeped out? That’s what most folks imagine of us when we do it, it’s not professional and it gives mlm a bad name. Follow these steps and you will not have to bug your mail man or that neighbor you don’t like ever again!! This is just one element one phase one peace of the puzzle. A home based mlm business can be a great way to make a living if you get the best Network Marketing training you’ll really start to see a diferance in the amount of income you bring in.

I am sure you will agree with me that working from 9 to 5 while making your boss rich is not something you would like to do the remainder of your life. But how on earth am I going to get out of it? You might ask yourself the same question over and over. Well, I have been asking myself the same question again and again for quite sime time!

What about those unforgetable and luxurious vacations you have dreamed of? You almost certainly have heard about individuals earning enormous amounts of cash while working by the beach.

Can it be done? Sure, if a lot of people are doing it, so can you! But the only manner is to work for yourself and have tons of individuals working for you. There is a well-known quote out there that goes like this, “The average people work for others, while the wealthy put together networks” Network Marketing is what comes to mind. With Network Marketing, you can develop a network of associates working for you. You must start building a network of people to work for you if you have not started doing so. There are tons Network Marketing companies that provide opportunities where you can succeed just like others have done.

Is there any other way you can build a fortune?. As you already know there are a lot of ways; online and off line. Becoming a Doctor or an attorney for example will lead you to create wealth and become your own boss but there are a lot of folks out there who cannot afford school. Others feel that they are just “too old” and ran out of time and returning to school is not an option. It seems the only option left is to start their own business. The easiest way, it seems to some people, is to work using their computer.

Working from home using the internet is the key to independence and has many benefits but it also has numerous challenges.

Here are some of the benefits:

- Not having to get up early to go to work.

- You answer to yourself and not your boss.

- You get to spend a lot more time with your family.

- Taking vacations whenever you want

- Having extra cash to buy whatever you need.

That’s a dream countless of people have achieved but it has come with a lot of work and perseverance. Are you next? Only if you have what it takes you will be able to achieve your dreams.

If you desire to start working from home using the Internet, this is what you need to do.

1. Find the best mlm company. There are a lot of great mlm companies out there.

2. Make certain the monthly expenses are inexpensive to everyone.

3. Build relations with those above and below you.

4. Learn everything there is to know about your products.

5. Help your down line.

6. Stay in the loop all the time.

7. Concentrate your effort on advertising.

8. Stay focused and to not qut one program to join the next.

9. Don’t quit.

10. Once you succeed, fire your boss.

If you are just starting out, please keep in mind that the road ahead is going to be very hard. You are going to spend lots of time and money. But whatever you put into your business, you will receive back ten fold.

Last but not least, always be good to everyone and lend a hand to those who ask you for help.

Another new year is just around the corner. One business model I see continuing to flourish in 2000 is network marketing.

Here is my outlook for network marketing businesses in 2010.

1. Network marketing will continue to benefit from social networking. If you enjoy hanging out with people online this is a great way to enroll new distributors in your business.

People with large lists of followers on Twitter, and a large number of friends on Facebook, really have an advantage when they get to know these people. That really is half the battle of building a large downline enrolling new distributors.

You certainly can play the numbers and just send people directly to a website or landing page. If you get enough visitors you will enroll new distributors.

However a simpler way is to meet people doing social networking. A certain percentage of these will have an interest in your business as they get to know you and trust you.

2. Internet based products can quickly turn into a worldwide MLM business. For example domain name registrations are a product that requires no shipping.

This is an easy MLM business to build because there is a never ending need for domain names. When you add the fact that anyone can join regardless of where they live in the world, you can see how quickly you can build a large MLM business.

Whenever possible find network marketing businesses to join that have products that fill a need, and allow you to enroll people regardless of where they live.

3. Developing an email marketing list is still a great way to promote network marketing. This kind of goes back to social networking except you actually want your visitors name and email address for follow up via autoresponder.

The larger your list the more potential income it can bring to you. This is especially true when your subscribers get to know you and you get to know more about them.

You can build a very large network marketing business just by mailing out offers to your list. Because of the email messages you send Over time a certain percentage of them will join your mlm business.

4. Joining more than one network marketing business will become the standard as opposed to the exception. making money online allows you to join more than one MLM business.

If you have a large email list you can promote multiple opportunities to it and let people decide which one appeals to them. You can teach them how to do exactly what you’re doing and have a duplicatable business going on in multiple opportunities.

These are a few things I see happening with network marketing in 2010. If you are not taking advantage of the opportunities to make money online as a network marketer you cheating yourself out of extra income.

Jeff Schuman invites you to visit his make money online website, to see the top network marketing business with vertical acceleration, order articles from his content writer service, and see paid survey training with a free survey list.

Hi everyone. This morning I started my day by reading this awesome email I received from one wonderful, very successful lady and a great Network Marketing coach. I had the chance to meet her in several occasions and she has always given me incredible advice on how to tune my mindset into a successful state of thinking.

Her message is about the importance of mindset and more precisely the importance of Goals and Values in your life. Read her story below and think about YOUR life. Do you have goals that you are trying to reach of are you just sliding through life with no purpose?

Good Morning,

As I write this, it’s just after dawn and it’s a crisp 50 degrees in Portland which in and of itself is truly a miraculous concept as the early morning hours of the deserts surrounding Phoenix ‘cool’ to 100 degrees this time of year! How great is it that our industry allows us the ability to have unfettered geographic freedom to live and work and play wherever or whenever in the world we want [or happen] to be? I love our industry on so many levels with geographic freedom not being the least of those reasons.

Today’s lesson is regarding the importance of Goals & Values as they pertain to our life and business.  It was inspired by a private conversation with my friend, partner [...], regarding my ‘best laid plans’ email.  (Thanks for being my muse, Pete.  I adore you.) 

Of the Six Simple Things required of us to be successful in this venture, the most important of all happens to be the issue of Goals & Values.   Not prone to small talk, it also happens to be my favorite subject matter.  Why?  Because without goals, we mortals are destined to be nothing more than a ‘wandering generality’ relegated to the crumbs and leftovers of life.  I know this first hand.

Friends, it’s important that I share with you that I was not born a competent, successful, network marketer.  I, like you, was born with one ability.  The ability to cry out for help.  To cry if I was hungry, wet, cold or lonely.  Everything in my life that I’ve accomplished since then is a learned ability. I was taught to walk and speak and play and dress myself.  I learned to be polite and say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.  To catch the school bus and to learn to read and write.  To work.  To pray.  To overcome disappointment.  To grieve.  To heal deep wounds to my heart and soul. To be happy. To plan.  To think.  And, it’s the ‘thinking’ part that has made all the difference in how my life has turned out.

When I was little, I felt truly blessed.  Born out of wedlock, I was deeply loved by my mother and her family.  My father, an American serviceman, returned to the Philippines to marry my mother just before my second birthday.  What a miraculous gift he gave my family!  Very few children who shared my life circumstances had father’s who returned for them and their mothers.

My father, in his youth, was truly a remarkable man. Born in the hollers of Kentucky to a coal miner and his wife, he was very funny and a borderline genius. As bright as he was, he was pretty much left to raise himself.  He was quite lonely as a young child. As a young adult, he wasn’t encouraged to attend college. It never came up in conversation. Having completed high school he did what he was expected to do. He enlisted in the army.

[...] my father, was self-educated and had a voracious appetite for knowledge. He taught his five children to love great literature, music, and poetry. I owe so much to him for the example he set for me to follow (but I owe him more for what he taught me NOT do).

Dad had a great love for poetry. He would read some of the most remarkable things to us for our bedtime stories.  Gathered at his feet like little chicks, his five children would hear the sonnets of Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickenson, William Shakespeare, just to name a few.  Hauntingly beautiful words that I allowed to shape my life and thoughts. But the poem that stayed with me the longest comes from the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, “To A Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, with the Plough”.

Though written in the lilting archaic language of the 18th century, it’s none-the-less beautiful, if only for its most memorable line, “The best laid schemes o’mice an’ men gang aft agley.”  It’s the ‘gang aft agley’ that would make me and my siblings giggle with delight.  It was simply so much fun to say! That aside, this line has nearly become a modern day proverb:

‘The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.’ 

Or, in modern vernacular, “S_ _ t happens.  Deal with it.”

My father’s plans for his life were chaotic at best. Devastatingly destructive at worst. A wandering generality, Dad had no well thought out plan. To make it worse, he was racked with self-doubt and loathing. His aimlessness, complicated by gran mal epileptic seizures, caused him to eventually lose his sanity, and our life instantly became filled with the terror of having a mad man loose in our home.

The most horrible part was that Dad would have flashes of sanity where he was his funny, good natured self for a period of time [giving us hope of normalcy], only to have him vanish once more into the dark abyss of his mind. He died in prison in 2001, having served 28 years of a life sentence for first degree murder. That said, it was during one of his dark retreats that I learned to set goals for my life. To be determined to not live my life as my father had led his. I was 16 years old.

One of the greatest compliments I have ever received comes from a childhood friend, ‘Pami Jo’. Unlike me, Pam came from the right side of the tracks, but she shared the same sense of pathos as I. Her family was not immune from the tragedies of their own dark secrets. As children, Pam and I walked the journey our difficult childhoods together. Pam’s life, unlike mine, has been fraught with sorrow and addiction. That’s how she chose to deal with her pain. But we have remained friends through all the vissisitudes of life, and I am glad to say Pam, at age, 49, beat her demons and has been clean and sober for three years. Her goal was to LIVE and, at last, become a good mother to her children.

A few years ago, when asked to sum up our friends in one word, Pam’s word for me was “determined”. I was simply the most determined person Pam had ever met… and her word for me, made me cry. Why? Because, Pam [along with my best friend and now, business partner], were both with me that day in February 1973, when I became determined.

Having survived a savage beating from my father, my friends, Pami Jo and Mary, were there to help put back all the pieces and to tenderly care for my blackened eyes and badly shaken spirit. I share this with you not to make you sad, but to give you hope and inspiration. The physical wounds I suffered that day, healed quickly, but it was my heart and mind that took years to mend and repair. Without determined thinking on my part, and the words of Robert Burns ringing in my ears, I never would have survived my childhood.

That winter’s day, so long ago, I determined:

• Not to allow my spirit to be broken.
• To never put myself in a situation where I would be battered or abused under ANY circumstance whatsoever.
• To live a stable, sane, prosperous life.
• To work hard and to have a plan.
• To provide a better life for my children than my parents were able to give me.
• To be happy, and free, and to make a difference.

Of the things I mentioned, ‘to work hard and to have a plan’, made all the difference. I owe my father’s example for this pearl of wisdom. The price we paid was high, but we paid it, and without regret.

Friends, what do you value in your life? What plans have you made that you’re willing, through shear will and determination, to see through to completion? What obstacles are you willing to face down, some painfully real and happening right here, right now, and some in your long ago past?

Learning to set a clear path for your life is a learned discipline. There is nothing I’ve created in my life that I haven’t learned to say or do, that includes everything required for you to build a successful and meaningful business. As for you? Everything and anything is possible if you’re determined to make things right no matter what goes wrong. Don’t be discouraged by difficult circumstances. Most of the things we worry about are not life-threatening. Consider the field mouse who had her nest uprooted by Robert Burn’s plough. Life happens. Deal with it… and then move on with your plan. Otherwise, we’re left to become a wandering generality, eating the crumbs of our life from the prison cells of our mind.

Today, I encourage you to begin writing out a plan for your life. I was 16 years old when my plan started coming together. I was 27 when I wrote it down for the first time. I was 33 when I fully understood the power of written Goals & Values. It was then that I was able to change the course of my life. Today, at age 52, I stand in awe of all that can be accomplished in so short a period of time. And, with tears in my eyes and a debt of gratitude in my heart, I tip my hat to that young girl of 16, who determined to have a better life than the one she was currently living.

If we want all our industry has to offer us, if we truly want to ‘live life as it should be’, we must be willing to do what is required of us. We must be determined in our actions and in our thinking and planning.  Other wise, there is no road map to help us get back on track when our plans go awry.

Even WITH a clear road map, our best laid plans still have the potential to ‘gang aft agley’, BUT, our road map can help us navigate the most treacherous moments of our lives. I speak from experience. When all appeared lost, when everything had gone awry, my written Goals & Values served as my beacon of light and delivered me to this safe and happy harbor in which I find myself today.  I wish the same for you.

As to getting started on your goals? If you can, and just for the fun of it, go see ‘UP’ and then come home, and with a clean sheet of paper, jot down all the things you want to do with your life. It could be 30 things or 300 things. From there, narrow it down to 16 Things. Divide them into four sets of short term and long term goals. One year. Three years. Five years. Ten years. Four things per year. Then, write one [detailed] paragraph about each thing you want to accomplish. Time, place, color, where, when, with whom. This discipline of writing about them helps put into place the things required to accomplish those goals based on the time you’ve allotted.

Be realistic and set your goals just slightly, but not impossibly, out of your reach. I want you to feel a sense of accomplishment when you reach them, not a sense of failure. Earn enough money to hire a housekeeper and lawn crew is a great example of a short term goal. Buy a motorcoach and, to your hearts desire, spend as much time on vacation as you’d like could be a great ten year goal (interesting to share with you that I planned this trip, a gift for my husband, in December 1999. The universe took care of how it would happen and saw to it that I would be here, writing to you, from beautiful Portland. Ah, the power of written Goals & Values!).

Friends, nothing happens by accident. We either plan our life or have others plan it for us. Don’t let  you life be buffeted by circumstances. Don’t destine yourself to becoming a wandering generality. Plan you life and live your plan. Then, when things ‘gang aft agley’, you’ll hear the giggling of little children as you correct your course and get back on track.

Onward and upward. 

Much Love.

Cindy

To Your Success,

Mike Dillard knows his stuff when it comes to making money online. And his approach is fairly simple. Not easy, but simple. It only consists of three steps:

Generate a list

 Create a relationship with your list

Monetize your list

If you noticed, I repeated 3 times the word “list” as it is, for sure, the most important part of all your marketing process. It looks simple but each of those steps are huge goals by themselves. You need to break tem down. Check out some details after the jump.

Generating a list

You can’t wake up one morning and say “ok, today I am building my list!” No, the “building a list” step will have to be dissected into several sub-steps. This is for me the most difficult part of all three in my opinion and because it is the first one

When you ask yourself “How do I build that list?“, many answers should come to your mind. If you have no clue whatsoever, I recommend that you get plugged into a program that is going to teach you what it is all about. I recommend all of Mike Dillard products such as Magnetic Sponsoring and MLM Traffic Formula 2.0. They are all great and in reach for the beginners. Unfortunately, MLM Traffic Formula 2.0 is currently close for new registration so what I recommend is that you click on the RSS feed button on the top right corner so you won’t miss it when it opens again. Another option is to click on the link just above and get your free 36 minutes video on how Mike became successfull in his MLM.

If you already have clues on how to build your list the most important decision you can make it to get started!

Another ressource that I have been using in the past months to help me get started for good with a new blog is the Affiliatenaire class by one of the best Internet marketer out there, Jimmy D. Brown. The Affiliatenaire program was designed for Affiliate Marketers who want step by step instruction on how to sell other people stuff online. However I find it extremely good for Network Marketing as it describes exactly how to get started, how to set up your own blog, how to get traffic and how to create your list, the first step in generating massive amount of leads for you MLM or Network Marketing Business.

Here are the key steps to creating a list of people who will to read from you and listen to what you have to say about your Network Marketing products or opportunity:

• Create a website or blog around your market (either products or opportunity)
• Get a free product to give away in exchange of your visitors information
• Get an autorespondeur and have a series of emails ready to populate it (AWeber and iContact)

Those three steps are still big and it can be quite overwhelming. The problem with that is that it makes you freeze and you won’t start anything. So my advice, stop trying to find free stuff in small pieces here and there (I know I did for so long because I didn’t want to spend on this) and get plugged into something that is worth it and that will tell you exactly what to do. It can be Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring  or Jimmy D. Brown Affiliatenaire. Or it can be any other system that fits you. Don’t worry about what it cost, this is an investment. I am talking by experience here. If you don’t stick with one system you’ll wonder forever and for sure you won’t make any money nor create any lead for your Network marketing business. By applying the techniques from both courses, in a few months (taking it easy), I already started to get back what I paid for those courses. Both are similar and complementary so if you have the budget and if you are motivated, get both like I do and for sure you WILL succeed. And it no rocket science, if you are motivated and know how to follow instructions, you’ll see results.

Creating a relationship with your list

This is a fairly simple part. The key to creating a good relationship with your list is to always, always provide good content and bring value.  To bring value to the list there is one skill you will have to learn. Copywriting. The art or writing a good copy is what will bring prospects ready to buy either your product or your oportunity.

Keeping in touch with your list is done through your autorespondeur. You will be able to reach all of them with some new content that you can put together or that you can get from other sources. It can be everyday, everyweek, every month as long as you have a regular schedule you will build this relationship. People buy from people they trust so you have to gain that trust.  

Monetizing your list

When you are rolling with your newletter and your readers start to have your trust through the value you bring to them, you have the possibility to “promote” times to times some of your products or your opportunity. By doing this you do what’s called monetizing your list. You create a daily cash flow for your online or offline Network Marketing or MLM business and you can invest this cash flow toward whatever you want. It can be more advertising, itcan be more training. It gives you the freedom to create momentum.

Bonus

As a bonus for being my reader, check out below some free stuff I have for you.

A free Report from Jimmy D. Brown called The 3 Keys To Getting Big-Time Commission Checks. As I said earlier this is targeted to Affiliate Marketing but with some imagination, this is a great report toward Network Marketing. Just click on the picture below and the download will start.

The other free content is from Mike Dillard. It is a free 7 Day Video Boot Camp on how to get an endless list of prospects calling you to ask for more information! This is very powerful and it’s free, what can you ask more!? Click on the picture below to jump to Mike’s website and get your free videos.

To Your Success,

Hi guys, today I read this great post by Ann Sieg titles “Straight Talk About Wealth Creation: Something For Nothing“. She explains how she uses her list to create momentum and create a flow of people to her website by giving incentives to people to participate. It is a great way of leveraging other people’s mind and ideas. Keep reading for the article.

Is it really possible to create wealth in today’s economy, starting with nothing?

A couple weeks ago during the re-opening of Renegade Professional I sent a letter to my lists with a story from one of my favorite business mindset books of all time, Think and Grow Rich.

In this letter I asked people to post on my blog and tell me what their favorite business mindset book was.

I told people I wanted to create a massive resource list for others to check out when they want some valuable reading. And I incentivized people to participate by adding in a free surprise bonus (worth $60) to anyone who posted their favorite book…

 

I got over 340 comments on that post!

If you haven’t seen this incredible list of books yet (many of which I went out and bought right away myself), you can check it out here, just scroll down to the comments:

Top 340 Business Mindset Books

I did something similar a while back when I promoted John Reese’s Traffic Secrets 2 course. I told people who two out of three of my biggest mentors where and I asked them to guess who the third was. Again, I incentivized people’s participation by offering to buy a copy of John’s new course for the first person who guessed correctly.

I got 460 responses to that blog post and ended up compiling a sprawling list of incredible teachers and mentors to learn from!

If you’ve never seen this list you can view it here (this is my old blog that I haven’t used in ages but this just makes a great example that’s leading into a powerful lesson):

Top 460 Business Mentors

Do you realize what just happened here with these two examples?

Wealth Was Literally Created Out Of Thin Air

In both cases I created a valuable resource for people that didn’t previously exist.

By simply creating a list of mentors, teachers and books for them to reference, and other techniques like this, I turn my blog into a central resource – a hub of activity where people gather. And in the process they are exposed to all my other stuff. My free content, my products, etc. Many of them end up opting in to my lists to get more free content and many of them end up purchasing products from me, or even turning into business partners eventually.

In the case of the promotion for John Reese, I earned over $14,000 in commissions with three extremely short emails and this very simple contest I literally threw together at the last minute.

And the important point is, I did it using no money of my own and very little work. All I used was the power of my own mind.

I Didn’t Put Together Either Of These Lists Of Books Or Mentors…

The People On My List Did!

And the incentives that I offered people to help encourage their participation required no effort or money of my own either.

In the case of the John Reese promo, I generated over 5 figures in affiliate commissions and so purchasing a copy of the course for the winner of the contest was not an out of pocket expense.

In this recent example during the Renegade Professional re-launch I offered a surprise bonus for those who posted a comment.

I’ll let you in on a little secret here…

I wasn’t planning on sharing what this bonus was with anyone else besides that group of 341 people, but it’s an important lesson in leveraging your efforts and your content that I want to share with you.

The surprise bonus was two of the action guides from two of the recent sessions in our advanced Renegade Breakthrough Mentoring Program.

These action guides are highly valuable content that hundreds of other people have paid more than $2,700 for, but they’re just a fraction of the entire program.

But what’s important is that I had already put these action guides together for this group of students and I was just finding creative ways to repackage them and use them in other areas of my business. So I wasn’t doing any extra work.

And by using them for this recent contest, they did a lot of things to boost sales during the re-launch of Renegade Professional. To name just a few, this contest helped…

• Build a bond and stronger relationship with my audience

• Create more buzz and excitement around the blog

• Create more of a sense of community

• Create large amounts of social proof by showing that there were lots of people paying attention to this event

 

Money is everywhere for those who know how to create value for others.

Like Dan Kennedy says:

“All The Wealth In The World Is Like The Ocean. The Ocean
Cares Not Whether You Come And Take A Teaspoon
Of Water, Or A Great Big Giant Bucket.”

You can create wealth out of thin air too by just understanding the difference between the resources of today vs the resources of a hundred years ago.

In the past, an entrepreneur would create value for others by say, gathering natural resources like wood and metal and creating something that didn’t previously exist, like a chair or a house. If they created something people wanted, they would exchange their money for it.

Today, thanks to the internet, value (wealth) can be created using nothing more than your own thoughts.

The Big Difference Between Resources In The Information Age
And The Physical Resources Of Yesterday Is That When You Give
Them Away, They Don’t Decrease… They Increase!

If I have ten crates of metal parts and I give three away, I now have seven crates of metal parts.

But if I have a series of videos that teaches others how to improve their own health, and I give these videos away to 10,000 people, I don’t have any less! I still have the same videos to give away to as many other people as I want!

In fact, I have created more value because those people are going to tell other people.

The more I give my assets away, the more my assets grow!

And I don’t have to keep making more of the same asset in order to keep giving it away, like I would if I was producing chairs or houses. You do the work once and you’re done (like my action guides I repackaged and gave away). Once you sell a chair that’s it. You can’t give it to another customer.

Now one thing you might be thinking is that all this stuff worked for me because I have a big list.

And you’re right.

The bigger your list is the greater your results are going to be.

But this also works if you’re starting out with nothing and are trying to build your first list. (And eventually you will have a huge list of your own by continuing to apply these very techniques. That’s when you start making five figures in one day)

Carolin Hauser is just one Renegade Professional student who has used these wealth creation methods to quit her job and move from Germany to Santa Barbara, California.

When she first joined Renegade Professional she had sponsored  a total of 3 people in 5 1/2 years in MLM and had never made money with her business. The only thing she knew how to use her computer for was checking emails.

Today she has grown her downline to over 500 reps and her personal income has increased by ten times.

She’s done this on 1-2 hours/day in Renegade Professional and by teaching her prospects the basics of internet marketing.

That’s how you create value (wealth) out of thin air. And that’s how you attract throngs of prospects, leads, customers, business partners, reps, joint venture partners, affiliates and team members.

To Your Success,

Ann Sieg

P.S. – Building a free list of resources for people is a very simple exercise that takes minutes to implement.

If you’d like some more ways to create simple and valuable resources that attract people to you, Mike Klingler has a course called “Writing With Pull” that reveals dozens of different examples that are easy to do and take minimal time to put together – even if you feel like you may not have anything valuable to share with people (these techniques are all about leverage other people’s knowledge).

The “Writing With Pull” course is one of the main factors that Carolin contributes her astounding success to.

This course has normally sold for $195 but you can get the entire thing for free with a membership to our click-by-click training website, Renegade Professional here:

http://networking.RenegadeProfessional.com

The original post can be found here.

Really good video that you can pass along to your prospects and friends when you want to talk about Network Marketing. It talks about how you can create a stream of income that will be recession proof. Enjoy.

To Your Success,

Great article by John Godzich, a  veteran in Network Marketing. Very good points and clearly explained.

13 Reasons Why Binaries Do Not Work for MLM

by JohnGodzich on June 24, 2009
in Compensation Plans

 

1. Historically, Binaries have been short lived, except for Usana, which did not start out as a binary.

2. Binaries have had problems with regulators, often drawing huge fines or settlements, e.g., BigSmart ($5,000,000)

3. Binaries are often built anonymously through automated systems that do not lead to the development of personal relationships

4. In a binary, the company is betting against the field: the very premise of the Binary Comp Plan is that distributors do not qualify. In fact, binaries live off of “breakage”, which is all the percentages written into a comp plan but not paid out because distributors do not qualify. This money is kept by the company. Even in cases where the binary company claims to pay out fully its comp plan, it caps maximum earnings throughout its gene tree, keeping the money to be partially distributed in large cash giveaways. Others claim to pay out fully, simply by earmarking amounts to be paid out later, thus creating a rolling (revolving) promise of pay out, which keeps on working as long as there is strong growth, and collapses when there is the slightest lull.

If most of the distributors were to qualify then…
a. either the company would go out of business, or
b. the profits in the field would be so widely spread out that the appeal of a select few making huge amounts, would not exist, which leads us to:

5. In a binary, the field leadership (leaders and big hitters) are building power legs as fast as possible, in other words, they are controlling spillover in a way to benefit them at the expense of their downline, thus making the appeal of spillover a myth at best, and at worst, an outward lie. Binaries pay out on your weak leg, not on your strong or power leg, therefore by definition, you do not build your success on the success of others, but you try to balance something that will naturally never be balanced.

6. Because of lop-sided income structures, binaries are associated to “get rich quick schemes”. But even payouts which favor heavily big hitters don’t last in binaries. Binaries use a system called factoring which, for lack of a better word, allows them to factor in changes in growth. When revenue trends change suddenly, the income of big hitters can be drastically reduced, and then the latter flee with their automated sponsoring system, accelerating the downfall of the company.

7. Binaries have been historically used by companies that have sold over-priced services (e.g., phone cards that gave 20 cents value on the dollar, thus in reality being disguised money chains.)

8. Real growth is based on Pareto’s Law: the 80/20 rule, which holds that only 20% of the people will do the work. Binaries claim to be able to get around this, that is why participants in binaries can be heard saying: “I almost made $32,739 last month.”

“And how much did you wind up making?”

“Well, I really made only $287… But wait until I balance next month!”

No chance really, against an automated system building down one leg.

9. Binaries are usually built on hype, with huge cash giveaways in order to lure people based on the greed factor. The product becomes an excuse. They often create copycat products of already existing and legitimate products. The negative side of this is that they also taint legitimate businesses.

10. Binaries, because they most often use automated sponsoring systems, wind up giving a bad name to legitimate organizations who use automated systems within the confines of a sound compensation plan. The “good distributors” suffer from guilt by association.

11. Binaries lead you to purchase multiple “business centers”, in order to “maximize” your earnings potential. What this really does, is prompt front loading products (according to regulators, this means purchasing more of the same product that you and your family can reasonably consume within a certain period). Both State (AG’s) as well as Federal (FTC) Regulators are concerned that this is a borderline, and often outright infringement on anti-pyramid laws.

12. Binaries redefine who they consider as distributors, often disregarding more than 90% of their distributor base, simply according to their own invented criteria to make it more difficult to be considered a distributor, such as minimum volume, period of activity, having already sponsored someone, or even already having received a commission check based on downline production.

Binaries thus consider more than 90% of the people who signed a “distributor application and agreement” with them as wholesale customers, thus allowing binaries to misrepresent average earnings, thus skewing results by more than 90%.

13. Thorough analysis of most binaries show that only a handful make considerable income, while between 98% to upwards of 99% of distributors do not even make in commissions what they pay in on a monthly basis.

Summary:
The success of network marketing is also due to its viral acceleration of economic change: the best example of upward mobility.
The success of network marketing has nonetheless been tainted by the behavior of certain “clever” companies/distributors who sought even faster success, often at the expense of the reputation of network marketing. They came up with the binary compensation plan.
Be wary of compensation plans that use the words “cap”, maximize your earnings”, and “you can make up to”.
Binary companies are here today, gone tomorrow. The fastest growth companies have been binaries. Example: in the nineties, a binary company grew from 0 to close to $2 billion in 18 months, and collapsed to nothing within two months, leaving hundreds of thousands throughout the world with dashed hopes, and an aftertaste of having been abused and taken advantage of. The founder of the company escaped to an atoll in the Pacific.

Hi guys, I came across this post by my friend Connie Loeschen about the top 10 reason why Network Marketing is better than any job. So true! Check our her blog.

Top 10 Reasons Why Network Marketing is Better Than Any Job…

Career, Business or Investment Opportunity…

1. Low to No financial Risk. Start your business for as little as a few hundred dollars – plus all you need to start and stay profitable.

2. Be Your Own Boss. Working for yourself. Part-time or full-time, when and where you want.

3. Superior Quality Products. Innovative one-of-a-kind, high-demand and high-impact products and services not found in retail stores, spas, clubs or mail order catalogs: Unlimited market potential.

4. Impressive Tax Advantages. Legally putting thousands of dollars a year in your pocket from the home based business tax-savings.

5. No Restrictions. No Set Hours. No commuting. No employees. No high overhead. No territorial restrictions. No dress code. No franchise fees or royalties to pay. No limitations on how high you can go!

6. $100 Billion+International Sales. More than 20 million independent business people in North America alone, where annual company growth rates of 30% to 1500% are common! An expanding global market.

7. Open to All regardless of age, sex race, education, experience, income level, capital investment, family or business background, past success or failure.

8. In-Depth Training/Support that promotes the highest levels of personal and professional growth, business and leadership skills and development.

9. Immediate Income. The very real opportunity to earn from $500 – $2500 a month part-time replacing your full-time income in two years, plus the possibility of $10,000, $20,000 month and more as a full-time career.

10. Freedom. Living the “Lifestyle of a Millionaire” without the burdens, hassles and responsibilities. Your time and your life are yours; more fun, travel play, meeting new friends, enjoying your family.

First Step: Download Success in 10 Steps by Michael Dlouhy.
This book will save you years of failure and frustration.
You Can Own Your Life
Connie Loeschen

Hi guys, check out this video by Tim Sales about two of the most common misconceptions about MLM or Network Marketing:

1. The people at the top make all the money
2. The people who get in at the beginning make all the money

To You Success,

By Jon M. Taylor, Ph.D., Consumer Awareness Institute

Network marketing (a.k.a. multi-level marketing or MLM, consumer direct marketing, etc.) developed from pyramidal concepts, which initially led to pyramid schemes, chain letters, and chain selling. While pyramid schemes are illegal, many MLM programs have managed to circumvent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rulings and applicable state laws.

Legislation and court cases have defined pyramid schemes as plans which concentrate on commissions earned for recruiting new distributors and which generally ignore the marketing and selling of products and services. However, MLM promoters, even with good products, typically emphasize recruiting simply because of a compensation system that rewards recruiting much more than retailing.

An MLM program that some enforcement agencies may not classify as an illegal pyramid scheme may for all practical purposes still be a product-based pyramid scheme (PPS). Strong pyramidal elements remain for most MLM programs, leaving participants with little chance of financial success (usually resulting in losses), except for a tiny percentage at the top of a hierarchy of distributors.

The following tests should help you avoid programs in which you will only be wasting your money, time, and effort.

THE OPPORTUNITY TEST

Were you approached primarily on the basis of the actual value and need for the products, or for the “opportunity?” If the latter, the program may be actually a pyramid device for enriching the company and a small group of upline distributors.

Another red flag to look for is promoters who talk of “getting in on the ground floor” or “riding the wave” of opportunity. Usually, the bulk of the income in these cases is already locked in by the founding distributors in the pyramidal hierarchy.

THE MARKET REALITY TEST

Many MLM recruiters point to the huge growth potential of their programs without considering the normal dynamics of supply and demand. Without adequate controls, saturation in any given market may soon be reached (at least in peoples minds).

Are numerous levels of distributors allowed more than is needed to get the products out to customers? Also, ask if the company allows unlimited recruiting of distributors in an area with no territorial protection or other provisions for preventing market saturation? If so, you may be buying a ticket for a flight that has already departed. You could be left holding a bag of empty promises and a worthless ticket.

THE PRODUCT TEST

Review the products offered and ask yourself:

Is it likely the products could be sold successfully on their own merits without going through a MLM distribution system? If nothing comparable is on the market, find out why.

Does the MLM company focus on legitimate products of value to consumers, or does it emphasize fleeting trends and timing, and exotic or secret formulas?

Are products of consistently high quality, and do they carry a buy-back guarantee? Can all product claims (such as health claims) be backed up by reliable research? Are orders filled and shipped promptly? And are manufacturing and expiration dates printed on consumable products?

THE COMPENSATION TEST

Can you as a distributor make a good income for the time you spend selling the products without recruiting a single person? Or is the commission paid by the company for selling the products so low that you have to recruit a downline in order to earn a significant income?

Would your upline (distributors above you), who had nothing to do with the sale, receive as much or more total payout per sale (including commissions and bonuses) from the company as you would get for selling the product or providing the service?

If the latter is the case, the emphasis is on income from a downline of distributors (that you would have to recruit), not on the sale of products. Even though such a MLM program may have escaped prosecution as a pyramid scheme, it may still be a de facto pyramid scheme (or PPS).

Your odds of success in such a program will not be favorable. While a few distributors at the top of the pyramid will be rewarded handsomely, as many as 99.9% of distributors beneath them will come away empty (based on available data) actually losing money, after subtracting expenses and product purchases. Also, in some programs, your quitting merely enhances the income of your upline because income from your downline “rolls up” to those above you.

Don’t fall for the line that it takes months or even years for most businesses to show a profit and that if you just “work hard and hang in there” you will make lots of money in this MLM program. Be aware that in other comparable settings, sales distributors usually show a respectable income within a couple of months, or they turn to something else.

Ask distributors who have been with the company for two or three months if they are turning a respectable profit after operating expenses and product purchases are subtracted. If not, they are only fattening the pockets of their upline.

THE INCOME DISCLOSURE TEST

If an MLM recruiter touts huge income figures of top distributors, request that the company disclose average payout to distributors by percentiles (highest 1%, second highest 1%, and so on to the lowest 1%), so that you can determine your chances of success. Ask for net payout (after subtracting product purchases) for all distributors who ever signed up, including those not now active. If they fail to furnish such data, they are not providing the balanced information you need to make an informed decision.

Estimate the operating expenses for building your distribution network. For anyone serious about building an MLM business, a significant amount will be spent on telephone costs, travel, samples, sales materials, office supplies, mailing costs, printing and duplication, and (when friends and family don’t respond) some advertising. Most distributors wind up spending far more money on products and operating expenses than they bring in. The best source for expense information is ex-distributors, not current distributors who are in denial about how much they are actually spending.

If less than 1% of all distributors earn the equivalent of a minimum wage for their time (after subtracting all expenses and MLM products purchased), you might want to consider a more profitable use of your money, time, and energy. (Some researchers estimate that for most MLM programs, less than 1% of distributors ever turn a profit.)

Another acid test of the profitability of an MLM distributorship is to ask the person recruiting you to show you his/her last year’s tax return. It has been found that it is extremely rare for network marketing participants to show a profit for their networking efforts on their annual tax returns.

THE “PAY TO PLAY” TEST

Find out how high the expectation is for you to purchase products, services, training, etc., over a period of time, in order to be a serious participant. In other words, what will it cost you to “play the game”? Don’t be fooled by a simple request for a small sign-up fee, soon to be followed by endless invitations for specials on purchases of samples or inventory, accelerating bonus levels for higher sales plateaus, paid seminars, and training sessions or retreats.

This requirement (or strong suggestion) that you make large purchases of products over a period of time to qualify for increasing bonus levels or purchasing discounts is one sign of a product-based pyramid scheme. After months or years of fruitless effort and a garage full of products, some participants come to realize they have merely been paying into a pyramid scheme in the form of payments for unneeded products.

THE PRICE TEST

Are the company’s wholesale prices low enough to allow a respectable profit when marking up for resale at a retail price that is still competitive with comparable products through other sources? Or are retail prices so high that they must be sold at wholesale to achieve any volume.

If products are priced at a premium to support a large network of distributors, then the premium portion of the price could be considered the pyramid portion. So if a MLM product sells for $40 and a comparable product would sell for $20 at a typical retail outlet, the $20 premium may be deemed the pyramid portion of the price and would flow to top distributors in typical pyramid fashion.

THE GOLDEN RULE TEST

How did you feel about the way you were recruited to do the business, and how do you feel about approaching your family and friends in the same way? How important are your relationships to you? Are you offended when they attempt to exploit your connection with them for monetary gain? Would you want to do the exploiting?

THE TIME FREEDOM TEST

The perennial dream of those with a pyramidal mentality is to be successful at recruiting a downline that will bring in enough money to support them so they won’t have to work themselves, thus giving them “time freedom”. They can then “leverage” their time by living off the efforts of others.

If a recruiter promises that by working hard for a brief time period you will never have to work again, ask what percent of their top distributors are no longer actively involved with the company and never attend opportunity meetings.

Ask veteran distributors when they last took an extended vacation. Were they able to do so without significant losses for not tending their downlines? And did any of them quit or scale down without experiencing major financial losses?

Better yet, ask for a copy of the recruiter’s downline and upline. Contact distributors at several different levels to see if any have achieved “time freedom”. And if you know the spouse of any of the distributors, you might ask what problems the family has experienced due to MLM participation (intrusive phone calls, untimely visits to the home, and neglect of family and other duties by the distributor).

THE HONESTY TEST

Has the recruiter been devious or up front in his or her inviting attempts? And can the products and “opportunity” be sold without making exaggerated product and income claims? Ask for validation of each of the claims made.

If you find the truth frequently distorted, powerful and escalating incentives may be driving the recruitment. If normally honest persons feel the need to exaggerate

claims to sell the products and the program, you may find yourself having to do the same.

THE CREDIBILITY TEST

MLM promoters who don’t command respect themselves may lean heavily on the “credentials” or “character” of others involved in the “opportunity”. If such references are used to excess, watch out. Such credibility links can be deceptive. Why? Because the ethics of MLM are so tricky to sort out that respectable and high level people have been drawn into the most problematical of programs.

THE SUPPORT TEST

Does the company offer an adequate support infrastructure to handle a temporary burst of volume?

Will your upline be there when you need them, or do they have a history of jumping ship when the next hot MLM deal comes along?

Are conferences and training programs, audio and video tapes, etc., free of charge (as is the case elsewhere for company sponsored programs), or are you expected to pay for them as another revenue source for the company and upline?

Source

Hi guys, here is a little bit of food for thoughts I received today. It is simple but it touches a very strong point. It all starts with a choice.

Look back at your life, do you feel that you are moving forward? When was the last time you made a choice that changed your everyday schedule?

When you look at where you are going today, how does your life look like 5 years from now? It is different? Better? If it looks the same, maybe it is time for you to stop for a minute and think what you could do differently today to impact your life to a better future.

Your success isn’t a matter of luck,
it’s simply a matter of the choices you make.

Success isn’t something you can wait for,
it’s something you’ll achieve with effort over time.
But, things won’t turn up in this world until you turn them up.

You can choose to be lazy or ambitious.
Stop and think about your choice again.
You always do your own choosing.

The great opportunity in your life is where you are right now.
Every situation, properly perceived, is an opportunity for you.

First, say to yourself what you would be, and then do
what you have to do to make things happen.

Being successful is a choice you make.

To You Success,

Hi guys, yesterday I posted this 1 little trick about how to talk to prospects to have them asking you for more. If you paid attention, you saw that I emphasized some points. I said it was simple and I gave you the exact “script” for you to practice it. Today we will try to discuss why this little trick works.

If you tried it I am sure you are already starting to enjoy it and find it fun! You can drive some people crazy with this. I especially enjoy it with people who I find are very resistant to talking about business, people who have a very cynical view of Network Marketing.

This works every time. Why? Because it calls to the subconscious mind of people. It is the unconscious mind which makes all the decisions. Have you ever heard of trainers talking about how to create more sales and teaching that 90% of the time, when someone buy something, it’s on an impulse and not a well thought process.

Want proof of the power of the subconscious? Here a simple exercise.

What does this person do?

I am going to give you a quick description of someone and you will have to write down what profession it makes you think of and how you feel about this profession. For each, I will give you my answer to both questions. Try not to look at my answers and write yours down. Ready?

Person 1:
- Works in a white dress
- Walks down an hospital corridor
- Has a stethoscope

For me, it makes me think of a nurse. I feel a nurse is calming and helpful.

Let’s try another one:

Person 2:
- Big belt with loops
- Tape measure
- Has Nails and a Hammer

I think it’s a carpenter. I feel carpenters are strong and skillful.

How about one last:

 Person 3:
- Plaid jacket
- Has a Briefcase
- Has a Loud Pitch
- Won’t leave after you say ‘no’

It’s a salesman! I feel uncomfortable and always lean back, protective. Shields up!

Don’t you guys feel the same way?

What this little exercise is all about it to show you that because we have past experiences and we because we have a preconceived idea of a certain type of profession, we make decisions based on inconscious impulses.

The nurse could be a drug addict stealing pills from the hospital. The carpenter could be a thief coming back at night robbing houses. And the salesman could be the nicest person on Earth it wouldn’t matter if he doesn’t have the correct set of skills because we already have a fixed idea on “salesmen” in general.

So, following yesterday’s post, how do you make sure that you don’t sound like a saleman and how do you create a good state of mind in your prospects so they ask you for more?

Arouse curiosity!

Don’t try to sell, try to get your prospects curious. After self-preservation, the strongest subconscious driver of the mind is curiosity. Want some proof?

You are reading this because you are trying to learn something new, you are somewhat curious to read what I have to say. Did it cross your mind even one second that maybe I was trying to sell you something? Probably not. Am I? Maybe or maybe not.

This is powerful because I managed to bypass your “anti-sales” filter and I activated your curiosity by discussing with you, getting you involved, giving you great content. Now, to find out more, check out tomorrow’s part of the series. In the meantime, go out and try out yesterday’s trick and get your prospects curious.

To Your Success,

PS: For a FREE 60 minute video interview with recruiting expert Mark Wieser on the techniques on how to talk to prospects and how Mark personally sponsors more than 250 a year and how you can too, click on the banner below!

Hi guys, today was a non-tech day for me. You know some of those days were you are trying to stay away for the computer because of too much information? Did you ever get that feeling? I like to get some offline Networking times to times and I find it enjoyable. Anyway, for the little time I spent on my computer, I read a couple of articles and one stood up because it related to some offline approach I’ve been using and I’d like to share it with you.

Do you know the Network Marketing saying that says “Do Not Go Prospect, Prospect As You Go“? I love this one because it opens your mind and opens doors for you to talk to people you wouldn’t think of in a first place. For the sake of the example here, let me pick something we do very often: go and eat out to a restaurant.

You know, some people will object that this is the old school way to do it, cold approach, but you know what, you never know where you will find your next superstar, so why avoiding to do it because someone say it’s old school. And everywhere you will find people willing to change their lifestyle. Personally, I love talking to people offline and this is what this industry is all about. And it will change your mindset, you skills and doing things is what will bring you money at the end.

Let’s take a restaurant as an example.

So how do I prospect in a restaurant?

For the example let’s call the waiter “Sean”. So it would go like this. Call him and say:

“Sean, listen. I wanted to personally thank you for your great service tonight, it’s some of the best service I’ve had in a restaurant this year.”

It has to be a genuine compliment. If the waiter sucks, don’t say that and remember you want to find winners not whiners so maybe you shouldn’t be talking to him in a first place. If the service is ok but not great, say something about the waiter’s “focus” or “smile” or whatever you can find. There should be a very important pause here.

What does that do? The genuine compliment will make him feel good and open him up to whatever you will say next. The pause will make him answer something to you. It also puts you in a position of “power” because you are the one who started the conversation and you are waiting for a response. Do not talk first, the first person that talks is in the weak spot.

Let him answer quickly and then proceed:

“Listen Sean, I own a business here in the area and I always keep an eye out for sharp people and you definitely caught my attention today. Let me ask you a question: do you keep your work options open?”

If Sean is really good at what he does in the restaurant, he most likely have a sharp mind and what do you think he will answer? Obviously “yes”. If he says “no” then you have to disqualify him and move on. You could say: “OK then, have a great night” and walk away. If the answer is positive, then continue:

“Good for you, Sean. I think you’ll be glad you do! Tell you what, you’re working right now and I’m busy myself, I’m heading off to meet someone, but let’s do this. Let me get your contact information and I’ll give you a call tomorrow[or when he gets off later the same day] and tell you who we’re looking for and see if we’ve got a match”.

Then you simply write down his information and you’ve just generated a strong local lead.

Why is it such a strong lead?

It is strong because you had a chance to meet personally this person in an environment where you had the power (as a customer) and you leaded the conversation from beginning to end. You also had a chance to see the person skills and personality and how they talk to other people. You already pre-qualified this person on what you could see. Obviously there is much more to ask to fully qualify this person but this is a great start.

And the best part is that it’s not just limited to restaurants. No, you can do this in virtually anywhere. You can talk to people everywhere you go!

I hope you see the power in this approach and that you will not only read this but that you will actually do it next time you go somewhere. Remember, you have nothing to loose by doing it. To learn more in-depth technics on how to talk to people, check out this 1 hour free video interview with recruiting expert Mark Wieser on the techniques on how to talk to prospects.

To your Success,

PS: If you like sponsoring people on the Internet instead, I recommend this awesome course by Mike Dillard called Magnetic Sponsoring where he explained Attraction Marketing and how to have people coming to you asking you about your business. Check out the 7-day Video Bootcamp for FREE. Great content.

Ok guys, so you got my Part 1 about The Renegade University and you probably had a chance to check it out. If not I recommend to do that now before you read what I have to say about The Renegade Professional. The University is a good introduction to the Professional version. It will show you what you can expect and if you are brand new to attraction marketing will give you a good overview.

Now, let’s take it to the next level and get serious with The Renegade Professional. If the Renegade University was cool, this is just awesome. Check out what you can find inside with some cool screenshots and get my review at the end of this post.

So what’s inside Renegade Professional?

Let’s start with what you can find inside. Ann Sieg summarizes it perfectly as the Money Making equation:

Traffic + Content + Conversions + List + Monetization =

A Money Making Home Business

She describes it like this:

Success in online network marketing can be boiled down to 5 main ingredients that combine to form what I like to simply call the “Profit Formula.”

There are hundreds and even thousands of different methods you can use online (or off) but all of them end up falling under one of these 5 main categories.

Just like an algebra equation that balances itself out, when you put all of these 5 ingredients together, the only possible outcome is a money-making business.

But just like with a recipe for baking a cake, you need every one of them in order to produce the results you want.

In the Renegade Professional you will learn all the different ingredient to be successful:

• How to get Traffic
• How ot create good Content
• How to generate and optimize Conversions
• How to create your List
• How to Monetize this list

Before I start with this I want to reassure the new-comers in the Internet world. This is perfect for you. They take you by the hand and show you exactly step by step how to do everything. For example, if you don’t know how to create an account in social networks, they will show you step by step how to do that. If you’re not new to that you can just skip it and go directly to the more advanced lessons.

So what’s really inside:

• 275+ videos
• 100+ hours of training content

Here is the first page you can see:

Marketing Page (click to enlarge)

Amongst those you can find:

• How ot use Squidoo : 23 videos, more than 5 hours
• How to use eZineArticles: 14 videos, 2 hours
• How to use Digg: 9 videos, 1 hour
• How to use Facebook: 11 videos, 2 hours
• How to Write with Pull: 44 videos, more than 7 hours!
• How to attract prospect using the phone: 7 videos, 6 hours

Here is a more complete list (but not limited to as there are new content popping up all the time):

• Content marketing with Squidoo, Hub Pages, eHow
• Article Marketing with eZineArticles, Article Directories
• Bookmarking with Digg, Stumble Upon
• Social Networking with Facebook, Twitter, Tweetdeck, Ning
• Blog and Website with SquareSpace, WordPress, SiteBuildIt!
• Video Marketing with using the Flip, YouTube, Animoto, Windows Movie Maker, Camtasia, PIP Video,
• How to do Webcasts and Podcasts

Check this out:

Social Marketing (click to enlarge)

 You want to create a blog, no problem they take you every step of the way:

Create a blog with WordPress (click to enlarge)

You can see that this just an incredible and broad spectrum of what you need to know. Each type of marketing is setup such that you don’t get lost. They are organized by sections and “phases” that you go though and apply to your marketing effort.

When you are ready to take it to the next level they also tell you about:

• How to Hire Writers with Elance
• How to understand Page Ranking in Google
• How to develop good SEO
• How to get more people to your List
• How to create strong follow-up

and some more content is still under development such as:

• How to leverage the news
• How to create a masterpiece and multiply all your effort exponentially

I mean I could keep going and going because, what I just described was the “Social marketing” part of the training. Then you can keep going with:

• Traffic Exchange
• Craigslist
• US Free Ads
• Ezines
• Adwords
• Syndication
• Using the Phone to do Coaching
• Writing with pull
• Lead capture pages
• Email Marketing
• Marketing a Niche
• Creating your own Information Product

Is that enough? I think you get the point!

My review of The Renegade Professional by Mike Klingler and Ann Sieg

When I learned about it early this year, I was sceptical and I read about it for a while before deciding to give it a shot. My good friend Mutiara was a student already and she strongly recommended it to me. I was very unaware of what it will bring to me. I thought I knew how to go on Facebook and promote my business. Haha, I am laughing at myself when I think back and realized that I pretty much didn’t know anything.

I am not even talking about all those other article marketing trainings. The one course that stood up for me was the “Writing with Pull” class. As some of you may know, English is not my native tongue so I more than needed this great training. I mean my English is not bad (I hope!) but it helped me a great deal to improve my conversion rateand create better landing pages or emails for my lists.

Don’t expect to be done in a month though. This is a great course for the long term because it take you from the beginningof creating Squidoo articles (and explaining you “why” you want to do that) all the way to hiring writers, creating joint ventures.

Anyway, The Renegade Professional is re-opening their doors on June 22nd and I strongly recommend that you grab a spot in the Renegade University and get going with the Professional after that.

Referrals are the lifeline of the Network Marketing professional

When you talk to people about your business, you will encounter people who are not interested in Network Marketing (or any other opportunity) because it is not the good timing for them. You can’t force them to do it. You will never be able to force people to do what they don’t want to do. When this happens, your best course of action is to ask for referrals. This will help you extend your network in a very quick way. How do you ask for referral? Follow those 3 simple steps.

1. Be Confident

You have to be confident and expect them to give a couple of names to you. You can try to put the idea in the person’s mind that it is the norm to help out other people. You can say something like “As you know I am trying to find partners for my project. I have been very lucky with people helping me out. Would you know anybody who would like to know more about this?” or if you are in the health business, “Would you know anybody who have health issues and who would benefit from this great product?”. Ask your mentor/trainer about specific sentences to use in your business.

2. Ask for help

Remember that your success in Network Marketing will be defined by how many people you will be able to talk to. You have to find ways to grow your list of people to talk to. When talking to someone, either they are interested or not, don’t be embarrassed to ask for their help. You can explain to them that it is the only way for your business to grow. The greatest and most successful people build Networks. If you ever discuss business with successful salespeople, you will notice that they “always” ask you for referrals, they are always looking for new account. Don’t be shy or feel bad about it, it’s how this business works.

3. Leverage a goal

One very powerful way to do it is to put in the mind of the person you are talking to that you are working hard to achieve a personal goal. I always tell people that by helping me they will give me a great push toward a new title, a goal “you know I am working very hard on that business and I will reach my next personal goal which is X or Y by finding a couple of new partners. Would you know anybody who would like otlearn about this?” It has to be a real goal, you have to stay genuine at all time because the person will feel it if you are not.

When you talk to someone and think about using any of the above point, always go prepared.What I mean is that depending on who you are talking to, think beforehand of a couple of examples of people they may know. For example if you are talking to a store owner, you may say somethign like “Would you know anybody who would like to learn more about it. Maybe one of your customer? How about one of your vendor?” Remember that they know many people. If you ask properly and every time, you will see fantastic results.

You’ve heard of all the buzz about the “lies of Network Marketing“, why offline marketing is the “old school” and why you should “forget everything you’ve been told” by your upline and learn this “new school“. I’ve asked myself the question and I am sure you’ve asked yourself the same question: “Is that just a bunch of hype promoted by online Marketers for them to sell you their ebook or is it a real evolution and revolution of Network Marketing?”

This can be a very long discussion and I have talked to many people with many different opinions. I will try to keep it short here for the sake of everybody. However, if you have a comment please post if below or send me a message through the contact page and I’d love to read what you have to say.

To make it extremely easy, here are the pros of each method and I will only focus on the pros. Why? Because I believe that pointing out the negative points will not give you the Slight Edge to success. Take whatever is positive in each method, learn from it, and you will quickly become a leader in your MLM and in the Network Marketing industry.

Offline Marketing Pros

• It is real. What I mean by that is that when you meet people face to face, talk to them, look at them in the eyes, you will know if they are what you are looking for.
• Training is very efficient. I have spent hours going to meetings and trainings and I do not regret any of them. Seeing people doing training will teach you how to it. Remember, successful Network Marketers are great trainers and teachers. I enjoy teaching people what I know much more than trying to sell anything.
• People already trust you (at least your warm market). Trust is the base of everything in Network Marketing. If people trust you, they will listen to you when you will suggest something. It can be a product or it can be an opportunity.
• You will learn how to talk to people. Don’t forget that to have a successfull MLM business you will have to talk to people (for real). Only sending emails is not going to cut it. You have to learn how to talk to people so they are attracted by what you say. Metting people offline is a great way of training.

Online Marketing Pros

• You have a global reach. Your list of prospects is endless. This is the biggest advantage at marketing online. You may have heard this many times, but it is true. The list is everything. You will not succeed without a list. Create a list, gain their trust and as I said previously, when people trust you, they will listen to what you have to say.
• You don’t have to deal with rejection. When you do online marketing, your goal is to have people coming to you asking you for advice and ultimately asking you to join your Network Marketing business. When they come to you, they are already presold on what you have and your only task is to qualify them.
• If you are not already successful, it’s easy to act like it. The catch phrase “Fake it till you make it” says it all. Well it’s somewhat easy online and people trust successful people. However, remember you still have to talk to people at some point so be careful in what you pretend to be.
• It is very low cost. Most of the MLM companies have corporate webiste provided to you that you can use (if your company doesn’t, change company ASAP). If you decide to have your own, it will be at very low cost.
• 24/7/365 exposure. No rest in the online world.

Here you have it and I most likely forgot many points in each category (Please add your own in the comment section below).

In my opinion, both are very important for different (and good) reasons. What I recommend is, take the best of each and merge them together to create a marketing powerhouse!

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 20/80 Rule, is an interesting phenonenum that has many implications for those practicing sales, marketing, netowrking and even MLM. The concept is defined as: for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. It applies in may aspects of life even though you may not even have realised it, you are seeing its effects every day.

• 80% of a country’s wealth will be held by 20% of the population.
• 80% of the sales come from 20% of the customers.
• 80% of your stock comes from 20% of your suppliers.
• 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your sales force.

The Pareto principle is almost an universal truth and can be applied to our lifes as well. How does that relate to our Network Marketing or MLM Business?

• 80% of the results will come from 20% of your efforts. Don’t try to be to perfectionist for everything. Only focus on what you think will produce the best result.
• 80% of your success will come from 20% of the people you sponsor. Find the right 20% and you will be successful. That may not happen right away but keep this in mind.
• 80% of the results will come from 20% the time you spend. Don’t waste time on little details, they will not make themselves worth your time!

So what’s in for you? Stop all these little things you want to do and think for a minute if they are part of the 20% you should focus on. Are they?

Fortune magazine called direct selling (of which network marketing is the largest segment) “the best kept secret in the business world”. It has experienced 91-percent growth in the last 10 years with annual sales in excess of $30 billion in the United States, and $100 billion worldwide. Financial experts say it’s a “recession proof” or at least a “recession resistant” industry. Billionaire Warren Buffet, after purchasing a network marketing company, called it the best investment he’d ever made. Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence, calls it the first truly revolutionary shift in marketing in the last 50 years.

What does that mean?

If you have been interesting in finding new streams of income, you have an unprecedented opportunities now. While many traditional businesses are struggling to survive and letting go hundred of thousands of people in the process, Network Marketing is booming and it keeps growing. People are realizing that they can not rely on their corporate job anymore. They have to take their fate in their own hands.

If you haven’t been following, here is the picture (source: bls.gov):

Employers took 2,712 mass layoff actions in April that resulted in the separation of 271,226 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, he Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported.

Compared to last year, the number of mass layoff events and associated initial claims more than doubled.  In April, the manufacturing sector reported 1,111 mass layoff events, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 135,252 initial claims.

The national unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in April 2009, season-ally adjusted, up from 8.5 percent the prior month and from 5.0 percent a year earlier.  In April, total payroll employment decreased by 539,000 over the month and by 5,240,000 from a year earlier.

I think it is enough to get the picture! People put their trust in an organization and it was fine in the past, but not anymore. People have to think about themselves by themselves. Surprisingly some people are not realizing it and they keep cruising by every day living their life without opening their eyes. They are asleep. Don’t try to wake them up, or they will most likely bite you and go back to sleep. I can hear so many people telling me, “you know, I am still young, I have time to see it coming“. What’s funny (or not) is that they are the same persons that I can hear say “gee, I have been in this job for 3 years already, time flies!”

What does that mean for you?

What does financial freedom mean? What is your bigger asset? Is it your home, your car or your 401k? Not at all. Financial freedom means to be and stay debt free and to be able to have a residual income higher than all your expenses. What would happen to everything you own if tomorrow you were unable to earn any money. You would see what you think being your freedom taken from you little by little. Unfortunately the reality is that people have a single stream of income and most likely debt and credit card balances. The average person in America has $8000 in credit card debts. And most of people are not ready for retirement.

The solution, create multiple sources of income. Redundancy is the key. You have the opportunity to do so with Network Marketing/MLM. Don’t wait until it is too late and take action TODAY, get involved for your own sake.

So you have decided to get involved in a Network Marketing opportunity or you are looking for one and you wonder what you must know to make sure that it will not be a waste of your time, which I believe is the most precious thing that we have. If you are new to Network Marketing or if you are having trouble with your business, find below 5 of the most important rules that you must know to have a chance.

Tip #1: You must UNDERSTAND what you HAVE TO DO to succeed

First and foremost, you must understand what Network Marketing is all about. By talking to people doing business in the retail sale environment I noticed that the “sale” word was very anchored in their mind. It is usually difficult to have this out of their mind to start with a fresh start for explaining what Network Marketing is.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you will not have to sell anything but in my opinion this will not be the primary goal. Network Marketing is a teaching business. It is not a surprise that some of the most successful Network Marketers were in a teaching related profession. So if you think you can’t sell, or don’t want to sell (I know I don’t), good, you won’t have to! (and you can still be successful)

Tip #2: You must have a WHY, follow your HEART

The second step, it to know WHY you are doing it. If you don’t have a why that is very important to you, if you don’t have a clear vision of you achieving this why, you will most likely quit very quickly.

This why can be anything but it has to be very precise. For example, I met a guy who was struggling in his business. I asked him what his WHY was. He replied “I want more money to buy a car“. That is not precise enough. So I asked him “what brand, what model, what color?” First he looked at me funny but then he started to describe it to me and I could see his eyes lighting up when he was talking about it more in detail. Next I asked him how much it was. He didn’t even know! How can you work toward a (money) goal without knowing what it his. So I asked him to check it out, write it down and display it someplace where he will see it everyday so he will have it in his mind at all times.

The bottom line is, know why you are doing this or why you want to do it!

Tip #3: You must ask for HELP from your SPONSOR

Asking for help doe not make you look bad. I makes you look like someone who want to learn. In the Network Marketing business even more than in "traditionnal" business, your sponsor success depends unikely on YOUR success. If you decided to do the business and you end up with someone who recruited you (vs. someone who sponsoredyou), which means that they just let you down once you have signed up, try to find who in your upline or who in your geographic area is already successful and ask them for help. If you are in the right company with the right people, you will find more than one person ready to help you.

If you haven’t decided what company to join, think about this and don’t hesitate to ask hard questions to the person you are talking to. If the opportunity is good, they will be able to answer your questions honestly and it will tell you immediately if you will have support.

Tip #4: You must learn how ot MANAGE your TIME

I will not be able to emphasize enough on this one when I explain to people why they have to stay focused all the time and manage their time. You have most likely read or heard about all these people talking about the “Secret Weapon” of the successful people? Don’t be fooled and don’t buy any single tool that someone claim to be the secret tool which will make you rich overnight. There are some great training and great tools out there but I would say that they are only 10% of a person’s success.

So what is the “Secret Weapon?” As Mike Dillard (an icon in the online marketing world) says. The Secret Weapon is … WordPad (or any other text editor). That’s it. It’s disappointing, I know but it’s the truth. So why is this must be your most important tool?

It is the most important tool because the key to success is to be ORGANIZED and create a TODO LIST EVERYDAY! This is naturally connected to another characteristics of successful people. When they have an idea, they do it which leads us to our final tip.

Tip #5: You must GET STARTED, it all starts with a DECISION: Just DO IT!

Unfortunately most people don’t and this is why most people fail. Most people dream of changes, of a better life but then they stay in their misery and don’t do anything about it.

Don’t be one of them and take action today. What taking action mean? If you think about starting a new business, taking action may be to buy a sandwich and go to this presentation that your friend have been talking to you about for 2 months. If you already have a business, it may be to make this 20 miles drive at 7pm after a long day of work to attend a training session.

It doesn’t have to be hard of take a lot of time, as long as you are doing something every day, every week, all year long.

A quick note about a video that is great tool to make people understand that Network Marketing (which MLM is a part of) is a very good solution especially during hard times. Listen to former president Bill Clinton talk about it.

Don’t hesitate to send your prospects to this video. Why reinvent the wheel and try to explain it yourself. Just use what’s already available.

CNN reported that a new home based business is started in the United States every 11 seconds. The bome based business and especially Network marketing or Multi-Level Marketing is growing fast as it brings a lot of answers to people who want to become financially independant and want to start it part time while working to replace the income of a day job.

Given the current economy, a lot of people are looking for new way to keep their life going and hope to “survive”. Let me share below an article about a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute:

In its annual Retirement Confidence Survey, the group reports that while most workers expect to live long and comfortably after they retire, far fewer have taken the steps necessary to do so.

Of the 1,252 workers surveyed nationwide, roughly 6 in 10 say that they expect their living standards after they retire to be the same or better than in their working years, but nearly the same number admit they hadn’t mapped out how much savings they’ll need to do so.

More than half of the respondents say they have saved less than $25,000.00 for retirement, while just 23 percent have saved more than $100,000.00. Still, about two-thirds say they are confident they will have enough to retire comfortably.

Researchers say the inflated hopes are based on outmoded expectations for employee retirement packages, which are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Who haven’t seen their 401(k) vanish in the past year? Who isn’t worried about their future? I know I am. But I am taking the steps to solve the problem. Are YOU?

Watch this touching video (wait after the quick ad) and think about how many people you know are in this situation. Then think about yourself. Can this happen to you?

Does that sounds familiar? I am sure it does and you must know why a lot of people say that. To learn why some people react this way, you have understand that there are 3 types of negative people in the Network Marketing or MLM world and how to react to what they have to say.

The persons who already tried and failed

You know I have to give these people some credit. At least they were smart enough to try their own business and for some reason they were not successful. Maybe they picked the wrong company with the wrong product. Maybe they had the wrong mindset and they were not ready to do what they had to do to be successful. The end results was failure.

The positive person will learn from their mistakes and they will improve themselves and try again. The negative person will blame in on the Network Marketing industry , tell everyone who want to hear that everything is a scam and just give up. When you come across these people, it will be difficult to change their mind. What I would recommend, don’t even bother because at the first problem, they will quit.

The persons who knows someone who failed

 This type of persons are relying on someone else opinion and if someone they know tell them it’s a scam, it’s probably one. People trust each other’s opinion. When you talk to one of these persons, you have to be very careful at what you say and you have make a point in showing information that will show that it is a legitimate business. Unless they understand that, there is no point of talking about anything else.

The persons who have only heard it’s a scam (so it probably is…)

This is the uneducated category. They don’t know about it but they read on the Internet that it’s a scam, so it must be true! I like these people because it is simple to have them change their mind. The only thing you have to do is give them knowledge. When they see you as knowledgeable (if you give them good content of course!) they will be open to actually learn what MLM and Network Marketing really is. I am not saying they will sign up with you immediately or ever, but they will remember you are the person who changed their mind, who taught them what they didn’t know.

Next time to you come across someone who is negative about your opportunity or Network Marketing in general, find out by asking questions in which of he above 3 categories this person falls and determine if the person is worth your time. If you stop wasting time with negative people, you will get more time to talk to the positive people and your business will grow exponentially.