This blog is about my venture into network marketing which I run as primarily an on-line business. I generate leads on-line, I prequalify these leads via my online marketing system and I do much of my communication and relationship building on-line via email and blogs. Much of my time goes into marketing campaigns and using no or low cost methods of getting exposure for my opportunities and I use affiliate programs to create interest eg MLSP and some to help educate leads I find eg Magnetic Sponsoring. I also recommend the Renegade Marketing system as a means to cover costs of marketing your primary opportunity because although network marketing has the potential and the promise of the millionaire income and lifestyle, it makes sense to reduce your marketing costs, earn some residual cashflow and be able to scale up your lead generation and ability to duplicate your systems.
Few people would disagree with the comment that these are uncertain economic times. Recession or looming depression is in the news often, governments are over-spending, home prices falling and repossessions rising, companies retrenching, going virtual or moving off-shore are all signs of difficult times. Even the explosion of interest in network marketing with investments in the industry by financial greats such as Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, Robert Kyosaki, Richard Branson and others as a measure of uncertainty in traditional business models.
A few years ago, I was invited to join the management team of what is now my primary opportunity. Before I agreed, I fully investigated the network marketing industry as it was different to my experience with traditional businesses. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this model was so much better.
I do admit that I had some initial reservations because like most people, I had been exposed to that uncomfortable meeting which was passed off as a social invitation to a BBQ but instead was a sales pitch to join a particular MLM. I had also gone to other opportunity meetings where the openness was more palatable but the offering still didn’t suit my needs at the time.
So I researched the modern network marketing industry and I was excited to discover that it has matured significantly. The sophistication has elevated network marketing to a valid business choice with professionals embracing the structure and applying strategies and systems to increase their income, build net worth and create free time. Many start part time with little disruption to their existing activities but once the network income rises and looks to be sustained (we recommend a target of twice your wages) they go full time.
It allows distributors, people who know and embrace our product, to start a real business of their own recognizing that this is rapidly becoming known as the smartest way to escape the rat race. Network marketing is also the lowest risk method.
The more I researched network marketing the more evident it was that even a franchise, with the best systems, promotions and support was less attractive than a network marketing business. Franchises suffer from high establishment costs and on-going expenses making it high risk whichever way you look at them. And the licensing fee alone of a popular franchise can cost tens of thousands of dollars even up to 1.5 million for a popular hamburger franchise.
I liked the fact that a network marketing business also allows you to test the waters as it were and start part time and build or if you wish to jump in boots and all, you can and take it full speed from the start.
I also compared networking with conventional businesses where sales teams go out hunting for customers. If they win an account it’s because someone else lost out. They have to convince, persuade and price bargain until they get a tenuous relationship going with their clients. Then they are at the mercy of market forces and a product can live or die depending on the economy, the size and effectiveness of any advertising and PR and the budgets that drive it. Even the season or the retailers or the political climate or any number of other factors can kill off a great product that just doesn’t make the grade quickly enough. So much risk and all of it amplified in tough economic times when product cycles are short and investments supporting new products are tiny.
By comparison, we have a primary business model which has very low start-up costs; no inventory, no premises, no staff nor most of the associated expenses of setting up a business. In a nutshell, all you have to do is to enrol as a distributor, get an appropriate first order (I recommend a top level Business Pack so you can hit the ground running). Next, set up your monthly autoship so that a small amount of product arrives each month and you can improve your own health. Finally, become familiar with the tools, the website and the support from your upline so that running the business is made easy.
Naturally, if you want to try the decaf version then there’s no obligation to pay anything more than our enrolment fee to become a Distributor.
What I learned while evaluating this business model was that the above process is a system of duplication or leveraging resources and it can all start with part time effort. But what I discovered was missing in most network marketing companies were the tools to coach others through this process of education and information flow. We provide this through our own tools such as Omsys (on-line marketing system) and we embrace MLSP which fully supports any MLM and takes the pain out of understanding lead generation, recruiting, duplication and on-going coaching and other parts of the mechanics of network marketing.
It was absolutely necessary to make the system duplicable because as an Independent Business Operator, we make money on the flow of product through our businesses as well as from bringing others into the system and so we help them change their lives for the better.
The idea of a global business really appeals to me. I love traveling and running teams in different countries means that a networking business will generate income 24/7/365 days a year and I can visit my international teams on tax deductible trips. How good is that?
Lastly, our primary business also helps preserve some of the biodiversity of our planet; provides opportunities for indigenous communities in remote regions; and significantly contributes to reducing health care budgets, your own and those of governments. You can plan to live better, longer and happier knowing that many of our modern ills are of little concern to you.
