Where to begin as an entrepreneur, marketer, or MLM distributor in the new economy? To some, it was the longest year. We endured painful consequences of a global pandemic, massive layoffs, and more heartbreaking racial injustice. To some, it was a blur, a year that began normal enough and ended with many of us engaging virtually, traveling hardly, dreaming relentlessly of better days gone and others to return. It also empowered many of us – individually and corporately – to become more empathetic and humane. This past year was the year purpose-driven brands became the pinnacle, not just a nice-to-have case study. They showed up, authentically, for their communities and stakeholders who needed support. Marketing strategies continued to shift from ads-based to storytelling-driven with a focus on what people want and need the most – to stay connected, have access to accurate information, adjust to new routines, and find ways to take care of themselves and those they love.
Here at Everything Entrepreneur, our purpose to tell stories that matter remains stronger than ever for network marketers and entrepreneurs. This year forced us too to pivot and grow, and we’re better for it, stronger at telling stories in new formats made by new voices that can educate, inform, and entertain on more platforms. For that – and for our colleagues, partners, and creators who inspired us this year and give us optimism amid more uncertainty ahead – we say thank you. Here’s to a year of new stories, new impact, new creativity, new unity, and new optimism. And here’s wishing you a happy, healthy, and safe New Year in MLM, network marketing, direct selling, affiliate marketing, and entrepreneurship.
Working with MLM Distributors who ask Questions In A Global Recession Network marketing is about networking with others, but there’s a caveat to “networking.” Find out about, Working with Distributors who ask Questions. Network marketing is essentially a powerful business model that companies use to distribute their products or services. They use the power of “word-of-mouth” advertising through people like you and I. In turn, we receive commissions. The most powerful aspect of network marketing comes through what’s called “Leveraged Income.”
Leveraged income is built by having a team of distributors in your personal organization, which is called your “downline.” In network marketing, you earn commissions not only from yourself but also through everybody on your team. You are leveraging your efforts by using the help of others. This is very powerful and allows normal people like you and I to make celebrity type money. But, here’s the caveat (warning): Not everyone who joins your business will build their business. . .
The power of network marketing lies in what’s called “duplication.” This is where you teach your new distributors to teach their new distributors to recruit and teach their distributors. If done right, this can grow your personal team of distributors into the hundreds or thousands of members. Sound easy enough, right? The power of duplication lies in teaching everyone a simple system they can use to recruit prospects into their business. This system can be a webinar or video recording of how this business works and what everyone needs to do to build a successful business. This also is easy. . .
What’s more difficult are the people that join your business and have misconceptions about the business. Either they think it’s an easy get-rich-quick scheme, or they think they can build a successful business working it two hours a week for three weeks. The sad fact is most new people don’t have the vision or the drive to become leaders in network marketing. . .
They simply don’t have the knowledge or understanding of the power of this industry or they treat it lightly, like a hobby. Here’s what you do with your new distributors: They sign up to check out your business, then they upgrade as a “paid member”. Yeah! Okay, now you send them your welcome letter that has basic steps for them in getting into their business dashboard, or control panel, and how to promote their links. Yes, some leaders will call their distributors and pressure them into doing 3 way calls which I believe is very uncomfortable for most new distributors. So, I send a detailed letter of the basic steps they need to take. I also enclose my personal testimonial of the product and ask why they joined. Here’s the catch: If they don’t respond back, I don’t email them again. That’s right. I don’t email them again. Unless. . .
They email me and ask questions. When a new distributor asks questions, that’s a good sign they want to learn how to build their business. As other leaders have stated: “Work with those who are willing to work.” I’m not talking about distributors who claim: “I want to make $25,000 a month.” This is just talk and to tell you the truth, the bigger their talk, the less they usually do. It’s like a big talker in boxing. They usually get knocked out. As you gain more experience in this industry you will be able to detect the talkers from the doers. I’m not saying to throw out people you think might be full of b.s. In fact, it’s important in MLM not to “pre-judge” anyone. Usually the people you thought wouldn’t do anything become your leaders and vice versa. I’m just saying, if you got a silent new member on your team, don’t keep bugging them and expect anything. Wait until they come to you, or you see them bring in MLM downline distributors themselves, then reach out.
Network marketing is one of the most exciting industries but also the most challenging. Find out, How to Get Past First Year in Network Marketing. In the first year of network marketing, 95% will quit. . . It’s a cold fact, but what is more exciting is the 5% who make it. The survive and thrive in MLM. They get all the rewards of staying strong during the hardest times of being a home-based Entrepreneur. They also get the fat checks that come in automatically each month. The top 20% in network marketing make over $20,000 a month. Think how your life would change making $20,000 a month. Isn’t that worth committing to working hard in network marketing for maybe 4 to 6 years? In six years you could be firing your boss, buying your parent’s home to free them of debt, and be traveling the world. Could you retire from your job as it is now in six years?
Probably not since most Americans have to work until they are 68 or 70 now. And, how much will Social Security pay them? About $1270 a month. Can you fly to Europe after paying your rent with $1200 a month? No. That is why network marketing is better. It is way better but, why do people quit in 3 months to a year? They think network marketing is: A cute little side-project. A hobby that they only work one hour a week. They expected tons of business and got no one. They played MLM like a lottery ticket. They couldn’t handle hearing someone say “no” to their offer. They were too embarrassed to seek help from their sponsor. They didn’t learn anything about network marketing. They didn’t want to talk to anybody. They didn’t want to push product on people. You get the point. . .
Network marketing is a $180 Billion dollar Industry. That’s Industry, as in a serious profession. With over 18 million distributors in the U.S. alone. People who make it in network marketing knew it was a serious endeavor. Maybe not exactly at first, but they caught on pretty quick that it was a serious business when they saw how much the leaders were making. treating network marketing like a profession How do you stay in past a year? Bottom line is: You have to like the products that you are buying each month to stay as an active distributor. If you don’t really like the products, the game is over. . . Find a new company fast or else. . . If you enjoy using the products, you have all the time in the world to figure the business side out. . .
Don’t expect success overnight, or even the first two years. . . Just relax and start learning some techniques that network marketers use. Learn how to “invite” people to see your opportunity. Learn how to handle objections. And, learn how to “close” someone. There’s tons of videos on YouTube about these things. Read Go Pro by Eric Worre. If you want to learn something bad enough you will learn it. I spent an hour a day watching all the videos about MLM training on YouTube. Then I spent an hour each night reading a network marketing book I bought on Amazon. There’s at least a hundred great books under “MLM Network Marketing” on Amazon. Your time won’t be wasted. You could be earning $3,000 a month in residual income your first year. You could earn more if you’re a maniac. . .
The sky’s the limit in network marketing. There’s no income cap. The only limit is what you put on yourself. How did I make it over a year… Believe me, I was a mess my first year and most of my second year. I had people hang up on me, laugh at me, and other bizarre things out of my control. I was so eager to become successful that success didn’t come. I was impatient. People smelled my neediness. I looked at my “dashboard” every ten minutes. I couldn’t sleep. I cried twice because my business just wasn’t doing anything. But, lo and behold, when you are focused on one thing long enough the doors start to open. The Universe, or god, or abundance starts giving you little crumbs. You get excited again. . .
There’s a little light that begins shining through your gloomy consciousness. My business developed almost at the same pace I was growing new skills and mindset. There’s no rushing self-development. You can pretend you are a wise guru leader all you want but only a higher power gives you that title when you’re truly ready. . . See, I was a selfish person most of my life. . . It was all about me and my ego. . . It takes a long time to reprogram a rampant ego that has controlled you most of your life. I was a drunk. the drunk I tore through relationships and jobs with that little demon. . . Network marketing has been said to be “one big self-development course.” And, boy is that true. MLM is like one long hiking trail and you are barely surviving on the little drops of water that are dripping from the cliff’s walls. . . But, then suddenly. . . Around the next corner in the trail, you see some awesome happy people holding gallons of the purest ( drink you like.)
They turn and see you coming and wave you over. They turn on your favorite music and pull out a chair for you to rest your tired feet. There is as much (beverage you love) that you can drink. Then you hear rumbling in the distance and then a helicopter appears and blows the trees around you. It lowers and lands in a field about a 100 yards away. The smiling, happy people say the helicopter is for you. . . That you don’t have to walk back on the trail. Everything is taken care of. You. Never. Have. To. Worry. Again. That’s network marketing, when your business hits momentum. . . That’s MLM, when the residual checks exceed your job’s income. That’s the power of network marketing when you stay in your business past the first year. Why Your New MLM Doesn’t Advertise Starting as a new distributor in MLM and Network Marketing is exciting, but then you notice something. . .Why Your New MLM Doesn’t Advertise. It can be scary to find out that all the advertising you see about the new company you joined are from other distributors, usually the leaders in that particular company, instead of the company itself. Let me explain why this is: The entire reason that network marketing works and pays us so well is because it is our responsibility to promote the company and their products. That’s why we get paid great commissions.
You might have just joined network marketing and you don’t really know what it’s about. Network marketing is simply a “business model” that companies use to distribute their products or services. They do not usually spend any money on advertising. Why would they? They spend most of their profits paying their distributors, you and I, and putting the rest of the profits into research and development to make better profits. As network marketing companies evolve, they are using less and less physical resources, like offices and large buildings for administration. A new hybrid of MLM business has emerged that is mostly “cloud-based” and has very little staff.
They operate from “the cloud” and have the bare minimum of staff to get the product out to the world successful and a research team to improve their products and shipping. Basically, a network marketing company does most of the tedious tasks for us. We do not need to hold onto excess inventory, we usually only need our personal supply; and we don’t worry about shipping or accounting. We simply buy our personal supply each month, promote the product offline or online using marketing that we created or our sponsors created for us, and file a 1090 tax form at the end of the year. That’s it! Network marketing is low risk, very low risk. If you don’t want to belong to a MLM company anymore, you can simply deactivate your monthly “autoship” orders and you are out. Network marketing does not have any of the headaches that running a regular brick and mortar business has. We don’t need to worry about employees, pay expensive leases on office space and equipment, or buy a lot of inventory. We don’t need to worry about “depreciation”, people stealing or milking the clock, or all the other taxes and fees we have to worry about running a small business in MLM. So, when you join a MLM company and you are worried that you don’t see their “official” Facebook or Twitter page, or you can’t find a lot of news on the company, it’s because the company is relatively new or not a lot of internet marketers have promoted the company yet. It’s our responsibility to promote the company, period. If you want to create a facebook fanpage or a twitter account for the company, you are usually free to do so.
Check with your policies and procedures of your MLM to find out for sure. I know big companies like Amway and Avon have strict regulations on how you promote them, but smaller and newer MLMs give you the freedom to promote them anyway you like, within reason. You don’t want to spam your opportunity. You can still be “fired” for unethical practices, like being too aggressive or cross-promoting different companies. Some MLM companies have recommendations for how they want you to promote them. And, some companies want their distributors to dominate a certain social media platform. I’ve noticed that ItWorks distributors dominate Instagram and Wukul distributors are all over LinkedIn. These are just trends and when new apps and platforms come out, everyone goes over to them. Many MLM leaders were all raving about Periscope, but literally a few months later they’re all raving about snapchat. I prefer to be a little more old-school, meaning I won’t follow the herd from one cool app to another. I am a blogger and always will be because I love writing. Besides, many new apps out there have kids under 12 on them, lots of kids being goofy. Not a place I want to do business and I feel that many people looking for a new home-based business aren’t surfing Snapchat for a business opportunity. Conclusion: It’s our choice how we want to promote our new home-based business. We are allowed more freedom in MLM than any other type of business.
Again, spamming your opportunity or plastering your company’s business logo all over your social media is not going to attract many prospects. Prospects want to know, like and trust you. They can’t get to know you when you are rattling off the ingredients in your products all day long. What are your hobbies? How do you like spending your days? Do you have kids, and what do they like? Be personable and invite people along to share your life with. No one cares if your products have 1200 MG of Omega 3’s. Be yourself. The more honest, humble and unique are, the better. There’s tons of people out there in internetland that feel the same way you do. It takes time and consistency, but pretty soon you will have a “tribe” of devoted MLM followers.
Here’s to a bigger and brighter new year for all of you MLMers, direct sellers, and affiliate marketers!