The Dark Side of Network Marketing

When you started looking for a “home business” did you notice – every time you see something that looks interesting, something that will give you a way to make your life easier and OF COURSE make you hundreds and thousands of dollars – FAST.

Money Falling From The Sky?

As soon as you enter your email address, a new window opens to tell you that as soon as you fill in the rest of your information and only pay – OH anywhere between, $9.95 to $495 you will get the rest of the SECRETS?

It’s not only overwhelming and annoying – it can cost you a small fortune. It seems so many sites are built on this premise and there is just no way of getting around it. It also seems that each site promises that they are better than the other. Rich and I have bought into so many of these great deals. Only to find out that there not great as you thought they might be and once you’re in the system, there is another system to purchase. We have also noticed that the EASY instructions are vague and confusing. All you have to do is purchase another system and it will be easier.

So about now, you get to feel like a rat caught in a maze while spending and spending and spending. At one point, when we first started in our business, I thought it was our responsibility to put the children of the founders of “Google” through college. We found out the hard way that “pay per click” can cost a fortune. Even when we OUTSOURCED to a so called “expert” Build our PPC campaign – not once but twice. Not only did we pay thousands to have this done – the campaigns didn’t work! NO MONEY BACK and the only explanation we got back was that perhaps our website is no good. Don’t you think that should have been discussed before the building process? Not to mention that thousand of PPC dollars to Google were already gone.

SEO – OR – SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is also another slippery slope. How many average folks do you know that can master this process? So this is the promise you get if you outsource this and your website will be seen EVERYWHERE. All over the world – you will get hundreds of leads every day! ALSO NOT TRUE. Once again, after we paid to have this done, there was no obligation to fulfill the promise that had been made to you up-front. The follow up emails and phone calls we sent were never answered.

Another thing to take a look at is “BRANDING YOURSELF” Basically that’s what we are doing right now. The more we get out there and the more we help folks learn ‘HOW TO’ the more we will be able to build trust and build relationships. We want to give GOOD advice without asking for your money. Starting your own “home Business” is a process and in order to have true success, you need to take the time and the small steps that will need to build a strong foundation.

The best advise we can give to anyone about marketing is to learning as much as you can about the area you want to target and then find the most cost effective methods available. Never consider your new business a way to GET RICH QUICK. It may happen for some but 95% of the rest of us will need to invest the time, the work and the commitment. So – stop clicking and spending.

Invest in yourself and do your homework. When it comes to finding the “best methods” out there, you will find them but it will take time and effort. If it feels wrong – it probably is.

To Your Success!

How To Set Your Business Objectives When Starting Your New
Home Based Business

Home business success is a journey, just as our life is a journey, learn to make it an exciting and educational one that will eventually pay off in ways you never even dreamed of.  A true home business success requires effort, just as any other type of venture you may pursue.  Moreover, your home business success may be directly tied to how much thought and action you give to it. One way to insure successful results in your home business is to set specific business objectives and goals.

Business objectives are the stated, measurable targets of how to achieve your business aims. The objectives should state the goals of the organization and give the business a clearly defined target.  Objectives for business can include anything from “Be the top-ranked provider of management consulting services” to “Serve the best hamburgers in town”, these are both based on results.  Because writing business objectives is neither a standard nor well-defined practice in the workplace, the list of objectives, place the business objective before the learning objectives.

The objectives must:

• be focused on a result, not an activity
• be consistent
• be specific
• be measurable
• be related to time
• be attainable

Strategic planning and decision processes should end with objectives and a road map of ways to achieve those objectives.  When we prepare goals in observable, measurable terms, we call these goals objectives.  Some business objectives state a specific business target and a timeline for achieving that target.

According to an article in Homeworkerstraining.com $600 billion dollars of the American economy was generated from Home Based businesses in 2005 also mentioned, 4 out of every 10 households, that’s’35 million were involved in home businesses. These are REAL businesses that require a plan of action.

Business objectives are the ends that an organization sets out to achieve. Having a good Home Based Business with the proper business objectives can help you achieve you success. Starting with a well organized business plan, incorporating your financial goals and objectives can save you time, money and most of all, your dreams.  Taking the right steps to home business success will get you off to a fast start.  And remember a slow and steady pace will eventually win the race to home business success.

To Your Success!

You have started your direct sales business, your business is growing and sales have started adding up – congratulations!  The next step is to start building your sales team by recruiting other direct sales representatives.  Building a sales team will boost your confidence and feeling of accomplishment by helping others to achieve success.  Do not forget, their success will boost your revenue.

• Some of the most effective ways to recruit are available right at your fingertips.  Online recruiting can be as simple as adding an extra line or two to your email signature.  You should already have something on your signature about your product and your website address. Why not add “contact me for an income earning opportunity” or something to that effect?
• Subscribe to email lists that may be interested in your product or opportunity.  Your email signature will let them know about the products you sell and the recruitment opportunity.  You can be your helpful, social self and enjoy interacting with people on the list.
• Online groups and website bulletin boards are another place you can meet potential recruits.  There are many websites and online groups dedicated to work at home moms.  Join these and let others know about the fantastic opportunity you discovered and how it has been advantageous to you.
• Having your own website is essential to increased sales and an excellent resource for recruiting.  Ask visitors to register, so you can start a database of potential customers and recruits.  Ask registering users if they are interested in an income opportunity and contact them, as soon as possible, if they are.
• Send out newsletters to registered users in your database.  In addition to sending out product information, tell them your story and how your business has improved your life.   Let them know you are available to help them achieve their goals.
• Get your name out on the web by writing articles.  After all, you are an expert on your product.  Mention your website and, if possible, add a link to it. The more links you have to your website, the higher it crawls in the search engines and the more visitors you’ll get.
• One of your best resources for recruits are your favorite customers.  They already love the products and have some knowledge about the company.  Nudge them in the right direction by explaining how much they can save by selling.

Do not forget the most important rule about recruiting.  Talk about your products, your business, and your success.  Tell people, both in person and on the web, how you started; where you are going, and how they can get join in.  Tell everyone what you do and why you love it. Your enthusiasm can be contagious.

To Your Continued Success!

How to Generate Leads and Kick Start Sales for Your

Network Marketing Business

Before you join any opportunity learn everything about direct marketing, business leads, how to generate leads, sales prospecting, sales training and more. Leads are the life blood of any network marketing business. Before you start generating leads, be sure that you have a great strategic foundation in place.

Building your Network Marketing or home based business requires advertising, but if you are like me, you ventured into this lucrative market because you needed to earn more money not spend it. If you’ve spent time and money on a great-looking website, but you’re not getting the leads you need to keep your internet business profitable and you may need to look at other advertising streams. Online marketing generates leads that increase sales dramatically. Your unique on line lead generation for your direct marketing business will help you stand out from the crowd and help you get noticed. Online article marketing is also a great source for potential leads. Setting a good goal to get as many great quality articles out on the internet as you can boost your lead captures immensely. It is also a way to get yourself branded on the internet and explode your home business.

Update your sites with a series of informative articles and information. Include a free offer at the end of your article, get it published, and you’ll find prospects contacting you without spending lots of money on advertising. Article writing can take 30-60 minutes to write, translating into a salary of $40-$75/hour. You can learn how to use articles for better search engine placement on Google, MSN, and others while maintaining your professionalism and credibility. Article writing creates a positive relationship of trust and generates a perception that you are “the” authority in your industry about your product or service.

I also encourage my business associates to launch a blog campaign. You can start by reading as many others blogs as you can, leaving comments and link that can benefit the other blogger. A great site to go to review and start writing blogs is WordPress.

Finding hot leads for your new home business is a major component of network marketing, not only for finding new customers, but also for building up your down line of distributors. Because network marketing success hinges on building a network of customers and distributors, it is a good idea to use word of mouth advertising amongst your friends, family and business colleagues.

An investment in a lead list can pay off with big dividends by expanding your customer base and potentially building up your down line. On the other hand if you pay hundreds of dollars for thousands of email addresses that don’t generate any business and you’ve lost money.

If you are an independent professional or small business owner, building the list of prospects for your target market should be one of your core marketing activities. Yes, ten thousand or a million people could get your marketing message, but if they are not your target market, it won’t help you a bit and instead could create a negative impression. Once you have a lead make sure your marketing communication addresses the problems they want solved.

Older methods that have proven successful in the past can continue to provide significant results, however, can be very costly. After months of due diligence and research, I identified low cost if not free advertising sources that I could track for results, and made a goal to reinvest a portion of my earnings into affordable, low cost advertising mediums. These methods cost me very little, and as I began to make money, I diligently reinvested a portion toward budgeted advertising campaigns, being sure to track my results for each paid advertising campaign. Leads are generated and validated through my system to ensure lead quality without duplicates or bad data. Producing prospects using these methods encourage them to create and develop networks of their own.

Our mission in one word — results. The Secret to a Successful Online Business: It’s All about Generating leads, Building Relationships, Establishing a trust relationship with your potential online clients and this takes time, but it is well worth the effort.

To Your Success!