Is Network Marketing/Direct Sales Right For You?

Hello everyone. 

I’m noticing many people via facebook and G+ interested in joining a home business opportunity. But when an offer presents itself, noone seems to know how to handle the offer. They feed off others in response to the offer, call it a scam and then proceed to fall for a scam.

I’m noticing this happening in all age groups, but primarily with the millennials. This is a problem, or rather a sign of a larger problem in the business world. 

Issue #1

What I’m noticing is people asking for a home business, but they don’t want:

• Home parties
• Monthly fees
• Startup costs
• Recruiting customers
• Recruiting team members
• Posting ads on social media
• Handing out business cards
• Talking to people

I’m sorry, but if that’s you then what you want is a job. Not a business. Not all home businesses have monthly fees or startup costs. Not all require home parties. However, regardless what type of business you start, home-based or otherwise, you need to get the word out. You won’t be successful if you don’t put the work in. 

If you want an opportunity that simply has no startup or monthly costs, and doesn’t require home parties, look into mine. But you will need to put time and effort in if you want to earn a weekly check.

Companies that do have a startup cost and/or monthly fee should be seen as investing in yourself. Business has overhead. My company has no startup or monthly fees because it’s cloud-based which allows our CEO’s to keep costs down for team members. But we still have to purchase our business cards and other physical marketing material. A brick-and-mortar business, you would have overhead in the thousands of dollars between your real estate, supplies, insurances, etc. A home-based business shaves a huge percentage of that off of you. 

A home business is not a job. It’s a business, very similar to a franchise. You are under corporate, you have some rules and limitations, but you’re responsible for your own earnings. No time and effort = no pay. 

If you’re introverted (shy), some sponsors (such as myself) will help you. They are exceptional at what they do and go above and beyond to help their team members. It’s just a matter of finding the right team with the right company. 

As far as advertising goes, without advertising there is no customers. Without customers, you don’t have a business. Proper advertising and marketing is required in any business in order for it to grow. 

Issue #2

Another huge issue I see is people who had a crappy sponsor now thinks the whole industry is a scam. Or at the very least, the company they were with. And this is a damn shame. One person ruining it for everyone. This is one reason why 97% of people fail in this industry. 

Some companies do have sponsor training in place. But only few actually have any kind of actual oversight that their promoters/distributors are actually utilizing the training. So is it any wonder why most companies eventually crash? A company whose team is largely comprised of greedy people not properly training their downlines is doomed to fail. If you’re in NM/DS, pay attention to how many sponsors are being spoken poorly about in comparison to the size of the company. If it’s more than 5% of your companies promoters/distributors, I highly recommend pushing corporate to do something about enforcing better training onto new team members. 

Those of you who may be reading this who got left behind by a crappy sponsor, on behalf of the industry I apologize. But don’t wrongfully accuse the company or industry as being a scam. You had a crappy sponsor, that’s it. Your sponsor didn’t know their job or how to do it and should have stuck to seeking customers, not team members. Keep on looking for a team or company that will help you succeed. 

Issue #3

Patience. I’m noticing many people who don’t understand patience is a virtue. They believe 2 to 3 weeks is a long time in a business. 

Two or three weeks is a blink of an eye in the business world. Most brick-and-mortar businesses take 3-5 years to break even. And it could take weeks before their first sale is made. Home-based businesses aren’t any different. Yes, they are more cost effective to start. Yes, the time required on average is less. But it still takes 1 to 3 months to start earning on average. It takes as long as a year on average to start earning reasonable income. 

Now, this isn’t true for everyone. We’ve all seen ads, or even know someone, who started making sales day 1 and hit the near impossible $200K/mo in their first month. But look at these peoples lives. How much of a warm market did they have? How many resources and funds were at their disposal for paid advertising and promotional material? Many of these people were already upper-middle class, if not upper class. They had larger circles and more resources than us average people. 

The most I’ve seen an average person hit was $10K/mo in their second month. And that’s only because they got involved with a company that has products or services they believe in; which means they could better represent the products/services without selling or pushing them on people. 

If you’re with a company and 3 weeks went by without a single sale, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I marketing to my target audience?
• Am I spending enough time learning about and promoting the products/services?
• Am I able to stand behind the products/services I’m selling?
• Am I working with and listening to my sponsor?
• Am I in this for the right reasons?

If you don’t feel comfortable selling what your company offers, you’re not listening to your sponsor, or you don’t know why you’re with that company, you’ll never be successful. 

Three weeks isn’t very long. Don’t give up. Keep working with your sponsor. Find out why you’re not selling, and fix the problem.

Issue #4

All the wrong reasons. Why did you get or do you want to get involved in NM/DS? Many people either have umbrella answers, wrong answers, or no answer at all.

If you want to be in NM/DS just for:

• The money
• Discounted products
• Percieved freedom

Do yourself a favor and get a job. A home-based business is not for you.

• Greed won’t get you success
• You can be a customer with auto-ship to get discounts with most companies. You don’t need to be a distributor. 
• Freedom of time and money only comes available after a period of long hours and hard work to build up to the point of financial and time freedom.

If you want to succeed at any NM/DS business, first you need to understand it’s a business. You must treat it like one. Next, you need to understand that these types of businesses are only successful through helping people. People will only buy from you if they can get to know and trust you. You need to be able to offer a solution to a problem.

This industry isn’t just products and services. It’s people helping people. You’re products or services should be solving a problem for your customers. You should be a leader for your team members in your downline, helping them reach success. If you can’t do that, if you can only look at everyone as dollar signs, this is not the industry for you.

Issue #5

Wrong company. I briefly touched upon this is in issues above, but this is a big one. You must only join a company you can truly stand behind. I joined a health and wellness company because it’s what I’m into, and have been for a long time. I strongly believe if we were all in optimal health that many diseases today wouldn’t exist and we’d get sick less often. I believe through optimal health, our bodies would be able to heal itself of many illnesses and diseases. So I joined a company that has all natural health products. It’s a company and products I can truly stand behind. 

It’s very important you do the same. It doesn’t matter how much I earn or anyone else earns in this company. There is no guarantee you’ll earn as much if you’re not into health and wellness. If you’re into shoes, join a shoe company. If you’re passionate about makeup, join a makeup company. 

But don’t join a company selling products/services you’re not passionate about simply because someone said they’re earning a huge income at it. You can be successful even in the most saturated of niche’s if you’re passionate about it. 

When you’re passionate about something, you don’t need to memorize pitches; it will come natural. Nor will it feel like work because you’ll be doing what you love. 

Conclusion

Those interested in joining an NM/DS company or those who failed at a previous company:

Don’t call the company a scam without proof. There are more scammers then legit business people, but there are more legit companies then there are scams. Just because you failed doesn’t negate the fact that others are successful. Look at why you failed and learn from your failures so you don’t make the same mistakes in your next business venture. Research the company before investing. 

Sponsors who may be reading this:

Don’t signup just anyone because they show interest. Be sure your company is a good fit for them first. Teach your team members proper marketing and be sure you’re current team members are properly training their downlines. Through proper training, more of the right people will join your company and more team members will see success. 

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Related Article:

Advice For Network Marketers And Your Recruits

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If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or email me.

If you’re into health and wellness, I recommend taking a look at my company. Here’s an overview of our products and business opportunity.