I got into Online or Internet Marketing through Network Marketing, otherwise called MLM.
MLM’s have got a bad rap, but if you look carefully, you can make a fantastic business out of this. There are hundreds of thousands of network companies out there with varying compensation plans and Terms of Service. You want to make sure, by doing your research, that the MLM company will be a good fit for what you want to achieve.
The very FIRST thing you should do is read your MLM Terms of Service. What are you allowed to do and what can’t you do?
At one end, your company may insist that all you do is sell their products. If you attempt to carve out your own niche by branding yourself and forming your own business empire, you will be in violation. This may be as simple as putting up your own website – it is viewed as competition with the company branded website provided to you. Here, you are really just an MLM Employee.
At the other end, your company may be confident enough to understand why you would want to brand yourself and it views you as a partner. If you are well branded, the company benefits and knows it. They are confident that their products and your network are a great fit.
They know that people buy from people, so are quite happy for you to build your network that way. Companies that operate this way are much less common and are my favourite types.
If your company is one of those that ties you exclusively to them, in reality, you are an employee. You may become a highly paid employee, but this is not what being a business person or entrepreneur is about.
IF you are a business person, you want to be able to seek out AND act on opportunities as you come across them. Being barred from pursuing such opportunities takes you back to being employed and having your employer telling you what you can and cannot do. Ouch!
As a business person, you should be making business decisions.
Do you want to be a highly paid employee or do you want to build your own business empire, incorporating opportunities as they come along? If you really are a business person, your abilities should take you well beyond current income levels, no matter how high, of any one MLM company, and you will be in complete control of YOUR Empire.
Being limited in the way you build your business will definitely put a crimp in your empire, the price of which may not be apparent until it is maybe too late.
As in most things, I like to diversify. I just don’t like all my eggs in one basket! How about looking at income streams from various sources? This could be real estate, investments, a retail business and online businesses. Within the MLM niche, you have the opportunity to belong to the health and wellness niche, the make money niche, travel, food and beverages, information products, consumer services etc.
Selecting just one and nothing else in the whole online business arena to my mind is short-sighted and fraught with danger. You had better watch that basket of eggs very, very, carefully!
When looking at your network (your “list”), you must realise that those on your list also are on other people’s lists. There is so much cross-pollination, it is unavoidable. It’s called free choice!
Sally could be getting her diet products from one marketer and her spa products from someone else. If you only provide diet products, she does not have the opportunity to get her spa products from you! You and Sally would have been better off if she could get both the products she wanted from you. If you have the opportunity to do so, and don’t, you’ll be remiss in not providing Sally those options to meet her needs. She may continue to get her diet products from you, or look for someone else who provides both.
If you offer your what they want, why should it matter that they belonged to someone else’s list, which they will anyway? People will stay with you because they like and trust you and you offer is of value to them. Sally, and others like her on your list will depart fairly quickly if you haven’t satisfied their needs, even if they like and trust you.
Once people join your list, it is in BOTH your interests to keep them happy. It is far simpler and cheaper to continue marketing to people already on your list than it is to offer the same things to someone new to you.
Wouldn’t it be a better idea to give them a range of products and services to suit their needs?
It would be rather shortsighted to think that all they will need would be the single product or service that you have to offer.
As a network marketer, you want to have a variety to offer to your clients. One of these is a FUNDED PROPOSAL. This is a great way for them to earn something as they start ramping up their MLM business and are still not earning much in the way of commissions and/or it’s taking a while.
One thing you can be sure of is that they will look elsewhere and even leave if you do not have alternatives to offer them.
Wouldn’t it be so much better if you are are in synch with your list? That they really, really really like and trust you, and are eagerly awaiting what you have to offer next, knowing that you have taken the time to satisfy their want’s and needs?
I think so.
Being limited in the way you build your business will definitely put a crimp in your empire, the price of which may not be apparent until it is maybe too late.
