New to Business or MLM? The right Mindset is the Key to your success.
If you are new to marketing and especially if you are new to MLM, you are in for a treat because we have included some useful links and information that is designed to educate you about the pros and cons of starting any business and especially MLM.
I think this brief little essay will provide you with a balanced point of view. I personally don't believe in throwing caution to the wind. At the same time, I've never met a hardened skeptic that was passionate about a lot of things except what they don't like. A little balance and common-sense will often make all the difference.
In our humble opinion, there are some very good MLM Companies. For proof, all you need to do is check from time to time to see that MLM Companies are going public and some are being quietly acquired by brand-name companies that are not based on network marketing. I personally know people who have made a lot of money and know people who have successfully build large MLM organizations - it can be done. There are also MLM Companies, or Network Marketing Companies if you prefer, that are problematic. It is important to do your homework if you are new to the industry.
If you want some enjoyable reading, I recommend visiting the skeptics web sites and then reading the official MLM company info. You'll be struck by the difference between two points of view. However, most skeptics don't make good business people because they can't become passionate about something or can't believe in something. In contrast to the skeptics, I've noticed that successful MLM people are much like successful sales people. They are motivated to succeed and somehow find a way to overcome obstacles that seem to be daunting to others. They generally have a postive mental attitude and genuinely play and work well with others.
There is a middle ground and it's called common-sense. If you have to lean one way or the other, it's better to edge towards being skeptical at first. As a practicale matter when you are charting your course for success, it's often helpful to find people who are successful to model after. If you can find someone who is successful either in MLM or whatever type of company or business you're interested in, and model or PATTERN after their success, you're chances of succeeding will be increased dramtically. The bottom line is that if you can blend in a little skepticism and still keep an open mind, at least long enough to be able to verify facts, you'll be able to separate claims from reality.
Also, rather than go it alone when starting a new business, including an MLM Business, it might be better to form a partnership, at least in spirit with people who are inclined to be of the same entrepreneurial mindset. Of course, you'll benefit most by partnering with people who have different talents and abilities. For example, if you are analytical and methodical, or tend to be more interested in technology, find a people-person to partner with. If you hate numbers and enjoy sales, find someone who is more quantitative to work with, or review any opportunity that looks good to you. You may find that by working with others who bring complimentary talents into play, you'll be more discerning and ultimately more successful.
Understanding what motivates you personally is a step towards getting a realistic view about what it takes to succeed. You'll find that when you talk to people who say they want to succeed or start a business, or make more money, that their motivations will vary but in the final analysis, most of us want more for less, more time with families, more flexibility of schedule, and ultimately the be free even if that means being free to be our own boss.
So, when you listen to sales pitches, keep in mind that unless you've invested some time in learning how to market, how to automate your business and how to work with people and motivate people and run a business, you're likely to be attracted by the simplicity of the MLM Model - and of course there's nothing wrong with that. It may be helpful though to keep in mind that it usually takes a little more time and or money to make things work out that what you might be told or want to believe when you are going into a MLM business or any business for that matter.
I suspect one of the keys to success if finding what you're good at and then finding a way to find work along those lines. It's always a good exercise to be creative and do a little "blue sky" thinking to explore how you think and feel about things - to find out what you're interest's are and what you might like to do even if you weren't paid for it. Ultimately, we all gravitate towards our interests as opposed to just making money. The trick to happiness and success in life is to make money doing something that really interests you.
Getting the right mindset
Do you have more time or more money? I like to buy marketing courses. I recently purchased a course by a well-known, but what I'd call a second generation, internet marketer who made some very good points and has some very good software that will help anyone to be able to market online. I spent a thousand dollars on that course and put it down after reading about one-third of the first of two hardcopy volumes. I read one thing that set-off some ideas that I'm still working on.
It's become clear to me that perhaps the primary value of marketing courses is that they can help you acquire the right mindset about business. The rest of the stuff, well, you can pick up software here and there, but when you acquire the right mindset, everything will start to make sense.
On the other side of the spectrum, I read so many things written by people who clearly don't have a clue about how to succeed in business. Most of these whiners can be found on the skeptic sites complaining about losing $35.00 or whatever it was and how they didn't receive what they wanted to get or their expectations were not met or they didn't succeed and it was all a waste of time or whatever and they go on, and on, and on. Often times these complainers use words that reveal a taker's or gimmie-gimmie "something for nothing" mindset.
Listen, these losers will never succeed until they learn a few basic things. First successful people are just people who refused to give up - they are people who lost money, made mistakes, and will probably make more, but there is one significant difference between a winner and a loser - the winner learned from their mistakes or experiences and the loser keeps going around looking for that silver bullet that will allow him to succeed without having to learn or acquire new knowledge or skills or whatever is needed by that invidual to turn their around their personal corner. They never learn from their mistakes and don't change.
There are some shortcuts but marketing fundamentals isn't one of them
Now let's think about what you need to succeed in business on a very fundamental level. Like any undertaking, it's important to understand what's required to succeed both on a personal level and in terms of having an understanding of the business you are thinking about starting or getting involved with.
The problem with starting any business is that it is often expensive or seemingly difficult to acquire new customers. That's one of the attractions of MLM in that traditional MLM companies often encourage people to recruit friends and family. I personally feel that this is a mistake. It's far better to find some good sales people - people who are people oriented and who need to make money and point them in the direction then need to go with some good basic training under their belts than to rely on so-called easy sales associated with friends and family. Who wants to alienate friend anyway? Speaking from personal experience, trust me; that will happen sooner or later if you're not careful.
If you follow the route of finding good people to work with, perhaps you won't be tempted to overlook something that often plagues MLM'ers - not having a market. Listen it doesn't matter how good your product or service is - if you can't reach people who are likely prospects for what you're selling, you don't have a market and you don't have a business.
Instead of starting off with buying prospect lists, I would first to encourage everyone to make sure that they have a product that's in demand, or will be in demand or desired, once people learn about it, and to make sure that they can reach their prospects. You can check out mailing lists to see if there is a list that corresponds to your product. If the list exists, you may indeed have a reachable market. If a traditional list doesn't exist however, all is not lost as you might be able to locate people with advertising either in print media, and more likely on the internet, if you want to be able to AFFORDABLY (and you should) test you offer, ads, etc.
There is a lot of ground to cover here and I'll defer to marketing courses that can help you determine if you have a market. If you feel that you do have a market and or a product that people will be interested in, it really comes down to finding prospects in a way that is affordable and do-able.
Marketing Methods
Ultimately, successful MLM Marketers will be people who are either good on the phone or people who can recruit people are have the ability to sell on the phone. If you can't sell on the phone, there is always traditional direct mail, or email, and that can work just as well. But either way, usually, you still need sales skills to close people.
A word about email is in order here. Traditional email marketing is almost passe in my opinion at least this is the trend that is evidenced in a current downward trend in the opt-in email business. Opt-in email has been really hurt by SPAM. That's just the way it is. Now you can market effectively by email, but only if you can acquire real opt-in email addresses at a lower than normal prices and in sufficient quantity. We haven't featured our autoresponder email or opt-in email blasting service but will be glad to provide you with pricing that makes more sense in my humble opinion.
What's left? Well current sage advice is to look at surveyed leads because they give marketers more flexibility and more information. With surveyed leads a marketer is in the position to be able to market in a way that fits their style as opposed to having to call or having to mail something or send email. Flexibility at an affordable price is very attractive.
So hopefully, you have done or will do your homework as you consider your next business venture. You can read forever and buy every marketing course that exists, but when you start your business or get involved with a good MLM company or work with a good trainer, that's when you'll start to really learn because you'll most likely give yourself the freedom to experiment to find out what works for you. Of course, while you're experimenting, it's good advice to be conservative and keep your costs low or inline with a workable budget.
In the final analysis, learn all you can about MLM and before you allow yourself to become "excited". It will be helpful to become well versed in basic business knowledge and skills along the way. And as everything starts to gel, and the timing feels right to you, get started doing something to avoid paralysis by analysis, because it's the do-ers who make it happen and the skeptics who can't - who ultimately complain while others are learning, doing, and finding ways to make money that the skeptic can only dream about - because it's all a state of mind anyway.