I hate network marketing, I mean really who wants to go to meeting and convince their friends and family to get involved with a business that could potentially free them from financial prison?
I always liked the idea of making residual income while I was off doing other things. The only problem I really didn’t know enough people to actually see my dream a reality. This posed a serious problem for me because I really didn’t want to beg people to join my network marketing business, come to think of it I don’t even like network marketing. I take that back , I like network marketing just not in the traditional sense of what network marketing is.
ENTER THE INTERNET! I will be the first to admit it, I love internet marketing I love the idea that I can create a full time income from the comfort of my home. Like most folks I Started buying into what the so called guru’s where telling me. I bought everything and everything led back to the same place. I was making these guru’s rich with my hard earned income while they where gladly taking my money.
Now I still buy products from these internet marketing rock stars, but I am much wiser today than I was when I first got involved with this industry. You really have to 3 options when it comes to making money on the internet.
1) Create a product and sell it retail
2) Sell other peoples products for 1 time commissions
3) create residual income online by joining some type of network marketing business model.
Option 1 although its really the way to go, in the home business industry its not the place to start most people just don’t have enough experience or a good enough story to sell their own info products.. At least not when they are first starting out.
Option 2 is a great idea as part of a funneling system that will ultimately lead to more sales and more money in your pocket. Option 3 this is the best option for most people just starting out. The advantage is you have the ability to plug into proven marketing systems and you have the experience of your sponsor to help guide you while you are setting up your business. I am often asked , what do I sell? My reply usually is “I sell air”! This usually gets a laugh or two but most people understand that although I market real products, I am just an affiliate marketer same as them.
The only difference is I realize I am only selling air and I don’t focus my marketing on the products, rather I teach people how to go after a targeted market. It is very easy to make money in this industry when you know 2 things.
1. What people are looking for.
2. And being in a position to show them how to get it.
It doesn’t have to really get more complicated than that. While it is true that there are many technical skills to learn for the most part if you know what people want and you know how to give it to them your business will be successful. We are in the business of selling ourselves as authority figures in our industry. A huge mistake I see many wanna be marketers making, They are selling their products and compensation plans like any of that really matters to a persons success on the internet. Heck, I am selling air for goodness sake and people are banging down my doors…
The truth is I may get some sign ups because of this blog, but most of my traffic comes from other sources I could in theory do away with this blog and still draw a ton of people into my business, the reason is because I bring multiple streams of traffic to my lead capture pages.. NOT my blog. Most folks see this blog after they are already subscribed to my list. Just recently has search engine optimization started playing a role in my business.
I want to stress this point one last time, We are living in the age of the internet, people coming online don’t care about potions, lotions, vacations or any product line for that matter, the majority of people who will join your business care about 1 thing and 1 thing only. SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!! Yes i can justify and show the value in all the programs I market, but most people don’t care about that, most people just want to know how they are going to get paid..
So instead of fight the current I decided to go with the FLOW! Just so you know if you took away everything my knowledge on how to build websites and my list and just let me keep my knowledge of how to get targeted traffic, I could start from zero and work my way up again very quickly. I am pretty sure I can take any business and have it the profit zone within 3 days, maybe faster if I really worked it. I hear so many horror stories of people not making money and trying for years, YIKES! I was one of those stories.. I know the only reason people are failing is because they have yet to find the information that will make a difference.
OR they got the information and are to darn lazy to actually do something with it. Either way Network Marketing online is awesome. I get to make new friends watch my bank account grow and help people all at the same time. I hear everyone crying about recession, I wouldn’t know because I am immune to the economy my business will always flourish because people will always want more… It is such a strong emotion that people will just about believe anything in the hopes that it will help them out of their personal mess…
This is both a good and bad, the good part means I will never run out of people to market to online, the bad part is good people will keep getting suckered… Wake up my friends, the best piece of advice I can give you is seek out and work with people who are already successful and ride their waves… Failure is contagious but so is Success, which do you want to catch?
The things you say Larry are very true, some of the same stuff I went threw while first starting out. Two very important things, the right product and getting in front of right audience!
Thanks Larry for telling the truth and for making it real. If I would have recognized these points when first starting out I would have saved myself a lot of time and money!
I totally disagree with you that people ONLY do MLM for the Money. In fact, it is very short-sighted to say that…but it must be ALL you promote which is a recruiters mentality.
I've been in this Industry for 20 years and have built a Team with tens of thouands…I have also got tens of thousands of customers…you are selling air? Frankly I don't know anyone that would buy into that and in fact it's probably an illegal pyramid if that is what you really sell.
I don't think it's unusual at all to struggle when you are new. Most people don't have the skills it takes to build any kind of check out the gate. It took me 3 years before I made any real money and most people want it out of the gate…because that is what is being promoted as you say…MONEY.
When people are hyped with the money, it just causes attrition when it doesn't happen. When REAL products are promoted it builds a lasting income and a REAL Business!
Hi cheryl, I imagine your "MLM" is awesome one and I am sure you totally kicking butt selling your real products that people are dying to get a hold of.
Let me know how your meetings are going.
Internet marketing can be very frustrating if you don’t consider some of the things you have mentioned. I have been doing this for a couple of years now and have realized what not to do the hard way. Sure, everyone will do some different things, but staying with your niche and audience is one of the most important. You have listed some very important information here for people to digest. Thanks for sharing and good luck with everything.
Its completely true Larry, the internet is a very big place and there are real gurus as well but there are just too many self-proclaimed gurus which delivers less quality and executes more money from us 🙂 in fact some free advice posted on the net are more informative than the expensive information. “Show me the money” is also very relevant and I think all of us experience the horror stories at least once in a lifetime which makes us only more determined and focused.
Hi George, back in 2005 I bought a Robert Allan course. It cost me $5000, imagine my horror when I realized everything that I was taught I could of learned for free if
I would have just looked first rather than jumping the gun. I think sometimes we end up getting suckered because we lack patience. If there is one thing I have learned about online
marketing is you need to have patience and take it one step at a time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.