Network Marketing - Home Based Business The New American Dream

It seems to me, that in today's economy, that network marketing is the surest way to achieve the American Dream. In these uncertain times, more and more people are turning to network marketing and starting their own Home Based Businesses.

There are any number of reasons people join network marketing. Some of those reasons are to:

1. create a second income;
2. create a residual income;
3. spend more time with their families;
4. be their own boss;
5. work from home;
6. quit their jobs and work part time;
7. and any other number of personal reasons.

It appears to me that this trend will continue and the numbers of home based entrepreneurs will surely increase. If you believe all of the stats thrown around on the web, the highest percentage of new millionaires are created from Network or Online Marketing.

It's just my opinion, and take it for what it's worth but I believe it makes sense to start a home based business in the uncertainty of todays economy. More to the point, many people maybe getting into network marketing just too stay even, getting ahead would be a bonus.

A home based business allows you to be your own boss and the sky is the limit on earning potential. There are no guarantees and the amount of money you make is closely tied to how hard you work and maybe just a little bit of luck.

So with the economy in a downturn, corporate downsizing, governmental bailouts, unemployment on the rise and many other factors, it just makes sense that people are turning to Network Marketing and Home Based Businesses as the new means of achieving the American Dream.

The Illusive Unicorn, Also known as Residual Income

Residual Income: Almost everyone has heard of it, but few seem to know what it really is. It's the elusive Holy Grail that every network Marketer quests for. So, what exactly is it?

A basic definition of residual income is doing the work once and continuing to get a passive stream of income off of that work. This is one of the main reasons people join multilevel marketing companies. It is also called Passive Income.

Pick any stock market, and look at the results over the last few months. I dare say the results will look like a roller coaster ride. It's gotten so bad, some people don't even look at their investment accounts anymore.

Banks are going under. Financial institutions are being bailed out by the government. The Auto industry is in the same boat. Unemployment is up. The housing market is in turmoil. To put it bluntly, the economic seas of the times are rough and choppy.

Especially in today's economy, it just makes sense to create a stable passive income. With corporate downsizing, unemployment on the rise and companies doing away with retirement plans, large numbers of people, especially professionals, are flocking to network marketing. Professionals, Business owners and anyone else looking to create additional streams of income are sitting up and taking notice.

Network Marketing is the perfect place to create residual income. In MLM, entire company compensation plans are structured to create passive income. Such streams of income are created through teamwork. The idea is that each person does a little of the work, and benefits from the teams actions. Different people have different ideas of how much or how little residual income they want.

Some just want to make a few extra hundred dollars a month. Others want to create a much larger residual income which will allow them to quit their jobs, have more time with their families, retire early, etc. No matter the amount of residual income involved, it pays to know that it doesn't come easy and it doesn't come without work.

You can't just join and become rich. Below are some of the factors to consider when seeking to create Residual Income. The company your involved with is important. Secondly, the company must have a compensation plan that is conducive to creating residual income. Thirdly, the companies products must be highly consumable. Fourthly, the general public or at least a niche market must continue to consume that product. In Addition, You must be flexible and change with circumstances in the economy. You can do this through self study and self improvement. Fifth, you must take consistant action to achieve both your personal and financial goals.

As always, keeping up with ever changing technology and focusing on self improvement are important to your financial future.

Advice on How Not to Be a Statistic in Network Markeitng

Statistically, well over 90 % of people who join network marketing fail and never make their initial investments back. If that's the case, then why are new MLM companies springing up all over the place. In my opinion,it's because most people are believers. But belief in network marketing, in and of itself is not enough to succeed. You have to desire success and be able to picture yourself succeeding.

Network marketing is counterintuitive. Quite often, the things you think would logically get you to the top, leave you frustrated and no where closer to your goals than when you started. Sound Familiar? You have to think outside the box and be a student of human nature. Below are a few examples.

Selling vs. Attracting.

Don't try to sell or convince people to join your business. If you try to sell or convince people, they won't join and will most likely avoid you. It's just human nature, the harder you chase someone the faster they will run away from you. We all want what we can't have. Attract prospects with a combination of Confidence, Knowledge and Experience. People won't join your team, unless they believe in your leadership capabilities. Most people are not leaders. They are followers and won't follow you unless you demonstrate you have what it takes to lead.

Network marketing doesn't work vs. You have to work to succeed in Network Marketing.

From what I've seen, the majority of people fail in MLM because they are joiners, not workers. Success requires, planning, determination and hard work. Too many people join, do nothing, expect miracles and complain when they don't become instantly rich. It's amazing, the harder you work, the more things just seem to fall into place for you, In short, your network marketing success ultimately depends on you. You can't just join a company, do nothing and expect to become rich.

Changing MLM companies frequently vs. Staying with one company

I call this the "Grass is always greener" approach to network marketing. Many people fail because they jump from opportunity to opportunity, always chasing the brass ring. Much like the old tortoise and hare analogy, "slow and steady wins the race". You have to be patient. People want to make money right away. In network marketing, just like other businesses, you typically lose money at first. You have to stick with it and build your business. I've heard it said many times that network marketing is a "3 to 5 year plan." You have to be patient and put the work in.

Fear of Rejection vs. Overcoming rejection

Many people will do anything to avoid pain or rejection. Once again, it's human nature. Most people are too comfortable to try new things. Others, can't handle the rejection of the dreaded "No." Typically, people would rather suffer in the painful situation that they are in, rather than take a chance to try something new. In network marketing to give yourself the best chance to succeed, you have to be willing to step outside of your zone of comfort. Technology is always changing, you need to keep up to date in order to give yourself the best chance to succeed. Being a wallflower may be cute at a seventh grade dance, but it won't get you to the top of your MLM's compensation plan.

In order to be successful in MLM, you have to constantly be learning. New Methods arise and you must be ready to implement them. The more knowledge you have regarding your opportunity the easier it is to talk to prospects. Don't worry about being told no. Your life will become so much more enjoyable when you quit looking for Yes or No's. You should adopt the attitude that you don't care what the answer is, your just collecting decisions. Viewing prospecting this way will change your life. You'll look forward to talking to people. And you'll have better results when you exude confidence when talking with prospects.

In summary.

This is the real world. There are no guarantees. You don't get the blue ribbon, or retire early just because you pay the entry fee and join a MLM company.

Having said that, amazing things are possible. However: you must take consistent action; be confident; work to improve yourself; follow the lead of those who have gone before you; set your goals; work together with your team mates; and overcome your fear of rejection.

Think outside the box. Don't let other peoples misgivings get you down. Believe in yourself and work hard to achieve your goalsl Give it everything you've got and by all means have fun.

Strategies to Effectively run your Home Based Business

After you've made the decision to Work From Home Part Time, you must devise strategies to effectively run that business. Most importantly, you must decide how to budget, not only your Money, but your Time.

First let's talk about your budget. The best advice I can give is don't get starry eyed when you get your first big commission check and quit your day job too soon. I've seen it too many times, trust me. Keep your day job until you can comfortably walk away with steady residual income built up.

Secondly, you'll need to set a budget you can live with, that is large enough to cover your operating expenses, but not so large as to cause you problems. There is no set formula, each persons finances are different. Be sure to plan to increase the budget as you start making money.

Many of the start up costs are obvious, so I'll skip them. You'll need to set aside money to upgrade your position, when and if this is possible in your particular network marketing company. Additionally, Carefully determine how much you can afford to spend on advertising every month. This is a business, treat it as such.

One of the most important investments you can make is in yourself. It is very important to budget for self study courses that will help you work from home in a more efficient manner. I can't stress enough how important it is to learn more about the business and improve yourself while building your business.

When Working from Home, part time, the second thing you need to budget is your Time. All of us are extremely busy in today's complex society, however, time management is a skill we all need to learn. Here are a few ideas.

Watching TV. It's been called all kind of things, most of them derogatory. It's the first place I look when talking to people who want to free up more time to work their Part Time Home Based Businesses. You have to decide which TV shows you can live without. Don't worry, you won't die from missing some has-been's on some reality show. It might feel like it, but you'll get over it. Especially, when the money starts rolling in. Here's how you do it. Make a list of all the shows you watch. Ok, now we're going to divide them into two groups. Put the ones that you make money watching on the left, all others on the right. That's right watching TV doesn't make you money. Your goal is to work from home, part time, not be a couch potato, right? So pick some shows you can do without and use this time to work on your home based business.

Talking on the Phone. In order to effectively work your business from home part-time, your going to have to carve some of your precious phone time out too. You can limit the number of calls, and or, make each call shorter. The simple fact is, aren't your dreams worth a few sacrifices? Set aside times, when you only make or receive calls regarding the business.

Working out. You can kill two birds with one stone by listening to self help or MLM training tapes while you work out.

Reading. No, I'm not suggesting that you stop reading, you don't get off that easy. What I'm suggesting is that you substitute your Romance, Mystery, Sci fi for how to home based business tapes or mlm self study courses.

Music. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to take all the fun out of life. You can listen to training CD's while you work out or commute.

Don't reinvent the wheel. If someone else on the team has already finished the same training, get a synopsis or notes from them. People have a tendency to make Home Based Businesses tougher than they really are. Rely on tools and training given to you by your up-line. I've noticed that one of the main problems is that Up-lines go to great effort to make the systems easy to follow and get started, but few people see to take advantage of it. Follow your teams teachings and plans as it will make your life easier.

Sleep. Another tip is to wake up 15 minutes earlier and go to bed 15 minutes later, provided you use the time to build your business.

Lunch Hour. Use your lunch hour to work on your home based business. It's your time, so do with it as you will. I do this all the time. I just eat lunch at my desk and it frees me up to work on my MLM business while at work. You can make calls, write advertisements, work on ezine articles, listen to self help tapes etc.

After Work. If your calling leads and prospects, (like you should be), stay focused and make maximum use of this time. Let your down-line know that you are available to answer their questions, but not between these hours.

Make a Schedule. Often times the mere act of making a schedule will show you then you have more free time than you think. Once you make it stick to it.

In order to effectively Work from Home - Part Time, you must must make effective use of the time you have. So put down the remote, the latest mystery novel, video game controller and focus on building your home based business. With just a little adjustment to your schedule you can create the time you need to effectively work from home, part time.

Keep your nose to the grindstone. Set short 30, 60 and 90 day goals. Work like your life depended on it for 18-24 months, then take a step back and look at not only what your've created, but what you've become.

Tuning Up Your Prospecting Skills

If your having trouble recruiting prospects, the trouble may lie in your technique. Take a look at the following examples and see how many seem familiar.

Ok. How many of you have been in this situation before? Your in network marketing and your prospecting for new team members. You're speaking with a prospect, everything is going fine, your sure that they are going to join your business. Then they start asking the dreaded questions, or requesting information that you don't know and you lose control of the conversation. The next thing you know the prospect is ducking your calls, not calling you back or not making appointments. You've taken another perfectly good prospect or lead and thrown them on the MLM Scrapheap. Sound familiar? I know I've done it a number of times.

You must become a student of Human Nature. Many times what seems the right choice logically, will send your prospect running from you as fast as they can.


Below are a number of tactics that will have you adding people to your down-line, instead of the MLM scrap heap:


(1) Whoever is asking the questions is in control. Don't give in to you desire to "be a nice guy" and answer their questions all at once. If you allow the prospect to steer the conversation, you are much less likely to succeed;
(2) You have to focus on what the prospect wants and show them how your opportunity meets his/her needs;
(3) Don't (throw up on them), by this I mean, don't tell them everything you know about the opportunity. Tell them enough to entice them and keep them interested;
(4) Operate from a sense of power, you have the knowledge they are seeking, even if you make a mistake, they won't know;
(5) Detach yourself from their decision to join your company. When Prospecting in Network Marketing you are merely looking for their decision, yes or no. This allows you to appear as a powerful leader, which is what people are looking for.
(6) it's all about the numbers. Some will, some won't. Don't get too attached to any prospects. There are always more prospects out there;
(7) Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Have a number of different methods for finding and recruiting prospects. These are called ROM's (Reaching Out Methods). You can improve you prospecting odds, by increasing the number of ROM's;
The most important thing you can do to improve your results in Network Marketing Prospecting is to improve your skill-set. Self study and practice are imperative. There are numerous self study classes you can take ranging from free class to classes you'll have to pay for .
(8) Always be busy and show people that your time is valuable. You don't have time to waste an hour and a half on the phone with a prospect. It's just human nature, people won't follow someone who they don't respect.

Network Marketing Prospects are drawn to Strong Leaders who possess the knowledge, systems, plans, earning potential and leadership skills that they aspire to have themselves one day. Essentially, people follow Leaders because they "walk the walk and talk the talk." It's also called Social Proof. Once a person exhibits or demonstrates qualities of a Leader to a sector of the public, he or she is said to has exhibited social proof.


Get out their, jump in the water, the waters fine. Never be afraid to make mistakes. Find out what works for you and Happy Prospecting.

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What does it take to succeed at Network Marketing?

Let's start this blog out with an easy one.... What does it take to succeed in network marketing? This question has probably been asked more frequently than "are we there yet?" There are any number of answers, however, a common answer is that you must find your WHY? If you haven't heard this before, your Why loosely translates to why a particular person would strive so hard to succeed, i.e their goals and dreams.

I've been thinking about this for a while, and maybe it's just the attorney in me, however, I don't think that WHY is the Right word to describe what motivates someone to succeed. I could have just substituted the word "reason", but that would be too easy and normal. That's OK, I've never wanted to be "Normal." Life is too short to worry about what others think, or strive to fit in. I would rather think outside the box and be myself.

First of all, Why is a question. Questions call for answers, not action. When asked a question, we think until we come up with an answer. However, answers don't in and of themselves incite or inspire action.

I believe that a declarative statement is called for. But what word or words fit the bill. Well, lets play fill in the blank to find out. Let's examine this statement. "I'm going to succeed in network marketing ________": (and the fill in the blank choices are)
or else;
or die trying;
if it kills me.
No, none of those sound right.

My Outside the Box answer is the word "Because." Let's see how it fits. "I'm going to succeed in network marketing because_____." Thats it. It's more forceful and descriptive. It allows a person to declare why they must succeed.

So now that I've rambled on enough, let's get to the meat of this blog. In order to succeed at anything, especially multilevel marketing, you must set goals. It sounds lame, but you must write your goals down and review them frequently.

I know it sounds boring and it's not what you want to hear, but there's no magic pill for success in network marketing. It's like asking someone how they lost weight and they tell you "diet and exercise."

I can't stress enough that in order to succeed at MLM you have to focus on "Your Because". You must also set reasonable, short, medium and long term goals. It's been said before, but "you can't hit a target you can't see."

This is just one of the factors that will help you in your journey toward network marketing success. We'll discuss some others later, so stay tuned.

Also, I find it also helps to have photo's or pictures of the reason's your going to succeed. Essentially, your going to succeed, because you want (fill in the blank.) I have some pictures taped to my desks in my bedroom and my home office. Feel free to come up with whatever system works for you. Now that we've attacked the word why and put because in it's place, be sure to set your goals and focus on "your because." Why? Because I said so....."

Here's to your Health, Wealth and Success

John Robberson