MLM Woman Newsletter Issue 135

Frequently Asked Questions About MLM
© 2007 Bonnie Ramsey

Why would I even bother with an MLM or Network Marketing business that doesn't pay me an hourly rate for the work that I do? Aren't they really hard to build? Won't you chase your family and friends away?

These are just a few questions that I hear in the MLM/NM business and I would like to address them, as well as a few others, in order to help you to better understand why we, as MLM/NM members choose to do what we do and why we have learned the advantage of the "delayed satisfaction" that you here spoken of in this type of business.

First of all, you should understand that while this side of the business does take time to build and your income may not be recognizable for a while, the option for immediate income is open through the sales of your products. Therefore, you do have an option to earn as you build your business. That being said, let's begin with the first question:

Q: Why would I even bother with an MLM or Network Marketing business?

This answer is pretty simple. FREEDOM and SECURITY. If you choose to build a team in your business, you are working toward building your future in a way that you will never have to worry about lay-offs, cut-backs, illness, retirement and all of the other aspects of working for someone else. While you may retain an hourly pay for your current work, it is reasonable to assume that your company is not going to pay you for hours you don't work. For example, let's say that you have been with a company for several years. They hire on some new workers and assign you the task of training them. Your pay doesn't increase due to this extra responsibility but you may possibly get a few hours of overtime during their training period so you take on the task.

Now, a few weeks later when this person is fully trained, you go back to your normal work schedule and work a few less hours. This is a pay cut since you are no longer getting the extra hours in to train the new hire. In a sense, they just cut your pay as a "thank you" for the hours that you spent training this person. The only way that you will get more income from training again is to keep taking on new trainees and keep working the extra hours to maintain the income. Does this sound familiar?

On the flip side, if you take on a new team member in your MLM/NM business and train your new member, you will begin to receive a check on the performance of that member and continue to be paid for as long as the member remains in the company. The more productive the member, the more you earn. This is a continual payment or "residual" for the time and effort you put forth to train that member. So, I have to ask, which one would you prefer?

Q: Aren't these types of businesses hard to build?

I won't lie to you and tell you that it is easy because it does take time and effort to be successful in this type of business. Yet, this is the case in many "brick and mortar" type businesses as well. Ask any financial institute who does business loans how much time you should allow in a business plan to show a true profit and many will tell you at least 2 to 5 years. Compared to this scenario, with the right implementation on your part, you could quite possibly tip this time scale far in your favor. There are many MLM/NMers who have built to the point of their retirement in this length of time. How fast you build your business is strictly up to you. It is also imperative that you have excellent training and support from your upline and company so be sure to ask questions about this when considering any business opportunity.

Q: Won't you chase your family and friends away with this type of business?

This will depend solely on how you choose to run your business. While you can let your family and friends know about your business and ask them to help by spreading the word and sending you prospects and customers, you DO NOT have to hound them constantly to join your business or buy your products. In many cases, friends and family are your worst critics in the MLM/NM business. They may choose to sit back and watch you to see how it turns out for you before even wanting to talk to you about it. Don't forget, they all know where you are at this point and that you are treading new waters. Many won't want to hop in the boat until they know for sure that the boat will hold water. You can learn to make new contacts outside this realm and your upline and company should be readily available to teach you how to do that.

Q: Don't they take a large investment to get started?

This, also is one of those questions that will depend on the company you choose to partner with. It is very important that you do your research on the affordability of your company. The advice that I try to pass on to others is to try to keep the initial investment under $100 with the monthly autoship of about half that. Also, make sure that the monthly autoship has a resale value of at least the monthly cost to insure that you can recover the cost of your monthly investment. There are many companies that charge far more than this and they certainly may be excellent companies so please do not mistake me to say that anything over these suggestions means they are in any way a scam.

The reasoning behind my suggestion is simply the affordability of the business in the long run. Not only for you as a new member but also to any prospects that may be considering joining your team. There are many more prospects out there that can afford these costs than if it were a $500 initial investment and a $100-200 per month minimum purchase. So, the more affordable it is to the vast majority, the better your chances of success for both you and your team members.

Q: Why would I pay someone else for the privilege of making them money?

When you join an MLM/NM company, you are not accepting a "job" from them. You are starting your own business. If you start a "brick and mortar" type business, you will have a huge initial investment in getting your business started. Considering the cost of real estate, insurance, bonding, utilities, inventory, payroll and many other expenses that you would need up front in those businesses, the cost for starting a home based business is very nominal. It would not be in the best interest of the company to take on members with no charge when it costs the company to send out training materials, set up training calls and conferences (the list goes on) just to find out that the person is not interested in actually working a business. It is also in the best interest of the team member to have this investment because they will be more likely to focus on the serious business at hand if they have a stake in that business. It is very rare, if even impossible, to find someone who will set you up in your own business, furnish everything you need to get started at no charge to you. That is just a common sense deduction.

Q: What if I sign up and my sponsor doesn't give me the proper training that I need?

If you join a company and your sponsor does not offer the training and support that you need, you should contact their sponsor. Repeat this process throughout your upline until you find someone who will train you properly. There are good and bad sponsors in every business so you should consider this before dropping out because of a "less than attentive" sponsor. If you keep going up, you will find the training that you need. It is in the best interest of the upline to take the time necessary to properly train new members so just keep trying.

Q: Is MLM/NM a pyramid scheme?

This would be an astounding NO. The difference in MLM/NM and a pyramid scheme is, for one, pyramids are illegal. This is due to the structure of the pay scale or compensation plan. In a pyramid, the plan is structured so that there is only one leader at the top of the pyramid. On the proceeding levels, you are restricted as to how many people can accomplish this level on each separate level. For example, on the second level, you may only have 5 people that can hold that level at any given time. People in the downline can not reach this level until a member falls off. This is what creates the "pyramid" shape to the plan, thus the name pyramid schemes.

In MLM/NM, the top positions are unlimited and is solely based on member and group performance. In fact, due to this type of structure, it would be possible for this to form an upside down pyramid, meaning that the members enjoy even more benefits as they increase performance in their team. Most people who have associated the MLM/NM with a pyramid scheme simply aren't familiar with how it works and the power of duplication technique.

These are just a few of the questions I have been asked about the MLM/NM business and hopefully, I have been able to address some of the questions many of you may have been wondering about. If you have other questions that I have not addressed, feel free to contact me through the information listed in my biography and I will be happy to assist you in any way that I can.

Bonnie Ramsey
Independent Representative
for Scent Sations, Inc.
http://www.bonnieramsey.com

About The Author
Bonnie resides in a small town in Mississippi, where she is a recruiter in her business, coaching and teaching others to build a home based business. She writes articles, short stories, poetry and publishes a monthly newsletter. You may view more of Bonnie's writings at http://hubpages.com/profile/Bonnie+Ramsey - Email questions to bonnieram1962@yahoo.com

What Does It Really Take To Become Successful in any Business & What If a Spouse Doesn't Give Their Support?
Copyright © 2008 by Sue Seward. All Rights Reserved.

Network Marketing is a business just like any other business. And it’s a serious business when you treat it as such. Of course many people still do not understand this and it's treated more like a hobby.

Just think if you started your own traditional business. You’d work your butt off wouldn’t you?

You’d spend a lot of money, hire employees in most cases, deal with a lot of various taxes, a lease, stocking store shelves depending on the type of business.

Or you’d have a professional business like dentist, doctor, chiropractor, attorney, CPA, etc. and work yourself to death, having all of the above and if you don’t see patients or clients what happens?

Your income stops!

So what’s the difference in owning a Network marketing business? You have expenses just like ANY other business. Only a Network Marketing business is more like a ‘B’ business where you are an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs sometimes work for years with none or not much pay. Once it’s built though it pays you for a lifetime because it's passive income. That's income that flows into your bank account from something you did previously.

In fact, Robert Kiyosaki recommends it as the perfect ‘B’ business. That means it is on the RIGHT side of the quadrant. The ‘E’ & ‘S’ (Employee & Self-Employee) are both on the left side and there's nothing wrong with those quadrants. We just choose to be on the right side and there are many reason’s for that.

(If you've read ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ or listened to ‘The Perfect Business’ CD, you know what this means).

If you have not read it yet and you are planning to become successful in ANY business I highly recommending reading this book and all of his books and CD’s to start the educational process of increasing financial IQ.

The difference with a ‘B’ business in Network Marketing is - there are some advantages that a traditional ‘S’ and other ‘B’ businesses do not provide. One of those really crucial advantages is something called – LEVERAGE!

I'm going to give you a real life example and it's based on my own experience so when your spouse - who may not understand what you are doing or WHY you are working this type of business or they think you are wasting your time working this kind of business, questions you because perhaps they are coming from the 'E' or 'S' side of the quadrant.

Remember, 'E' stands for Employee and 'S' stands for Self-Employed.

If your spouse is not on the same page and is against learning about this - they could (usually it's not really intentional, they just are not educated and many people who come into Network Marketing are not either) they may not understand and become frustrated with what you are doing and why. Many people who get into Network Marketing become frustrated too because they do not understand this concept and they also are not very good with delayed gratification. Sound familiar?

Especially if they are coming from the 'E' and you are spending money to run your business and perhaps there's no money or not a lot of money coming in yet, so they are questioning - why don’t you just get a job? This also happened with Robert & Kim as they started on their journey to start a 'B' business so you are not alone!

Or perhaps you already have an ‘S’ business so your spouse is asking, “why don’t you just work your ‘S’ business harder or start another ‘S’ business?”

This is usually because again they do not understand the concept of LEVERAGE and they usually do not understand Network Marketing. Or perhaps you have been working in Network Marketing for years and you have not seen much success or have had very little success and they think here we go again, with another deal that is not going to work and questioning constantly why are you pouring more money into that MLM deal?

One of the very true reasons’s for my success is because I have always had the support of my spouse. Even though he was frustrated in the beginning for several years with the money going out - all the time I spent in my office - on the phone and NOT with him or the kids and the frustrations he saw me go through, he still believed in me and in what I was doing for us.

I took him to events back in those early days so he was around my mentors and saw the company and knew of the possibilities. Having his support was the first step.

In fact, if you have any family members cutting you down for what you do it will be tough to overcome. My immediate family never supported me and they made fun of my Network Marketing business for years. (a distant memory now of course but I remember those days!) Listen to Kim Klaver’s stuff on this! I used to listen to her stuff back then about the family poking fun! Wasn't fun to go through then but I just let it roll off my back at the time because I knew I was on a mission and knew WHY!

Robert Kiyosaki also wrote an article on this called 'What Will My Friends Think' and you can read that article on a new MLM training website I’m building at http://www.MLM-Online-Marketing-Coach.com

It’s CRUCIAL to your success though that you do have the support of your spouse in any business, so if you don’t have it, it could become a struggle. Because in reality you live with your spouse day in and day out and not with your immediate family so it's hard to shut out your spouse and any negative comments they make.

On the other hand, if you happen to have a spouse that is controlling and demands that you do what they say, you most likely won’t make it in ANY business. That’s kind of like having a boss isn’t it? This is just a fact. Over the years though I’ve seen it happen many times. This is something that I cannot help you with because I’m not a marriage counselor.

In fact, this is exactly why when I speak with people about starting their business I find out right up front - will they be working their business with their spouse and if not, do they have their spouses support? This is a very important question to ask. I’m also learning from Robert & Kim on how important it is to work as a partnership and putting your financial PLAN together as a team.

My husband has been supportive of my business and career for eleven years. Actually more like 18 years since I started dabbling in MLM back in 1988 so he’s seen me fail and make mistakes for many years while working on myself and creating a business for our family’s future! (our plan has always been to bring him into the business and we have no doubt that is going to happen soon and would be now if not for some new opportunities that we decided to give our son at this time so we’ve put our plans on hold some. This is what happens when you wait until you are 40 to have your second child!!!).

Now my husband dances a jig because here's what's happened over the last eleven years as he has seen my development over the years.

I have managed to create not only a credible career where if something happened to him I would be ok and have become independent not only FINANCIALLY – also EMOTIONALLY independent and confident and know that I can do anything! If something happened to my company I know I have the skills and experience to start a new business. I have connections and I have leverage.

Eleven years ago I had NO income of my own and no career. No connections, no leverage and NO confidence.

I was a stay at home mom and being a mom doesn’t pay to well, at least not monetarily! I could take a job now because I do have skills that I learned in NETWORK MARKETING. However I do NOT want a JOB! I do not want anyone telling me what to do, when to do it, how much income I can make, or how high to jump! I’m not interested in building someone else’s business or their dreams! I did this for freedom - not to have to end up working again for someone else just because something was to happen to my spouse!

So let's discuss leverage -

Last year was a very tough year for us - We decided to give our son the opportunity to come to Austin to play level 1 tennis which is a fantastic opportunity for him but it’s also a very expensive endeavor that really threw a wrench into our plans. My income had finally grown and we were even able to buy an investment property at Lake Travis and things were great! We had money to spare and invest and our plans were set to retire my husband.

Then this opportunity came up and we decided to move me and my son to Austin. So from March to summer, (July) I was in transition mode moving us. I did not work on my business much. I did however delegate a lot of leads and sign ups to leaders. These are partners that I had brought into my business from January through July.

Then in August I started getting sick. I became extremely ill up until December and was barely able to work. There was a five month period where I could hardly function at all some days and sponsored only a few people myself personally.

All of my contacts and leads went to other leaders and they sponsored them and my business continued to build because of my ability to recognize that I was not able to do this all myself and if I was not able to delegate to these leaders that I had in place I could lose some of the momentum that was starting to happen!

We made Director in our company in September so something was done right. It was an all out team effort. Again leveraging other people’s time and money!

I ended up making over 6 figures in passive income last year when all I did was really work about half the year with not to much effort at all. NOTHING like I did in those first four years in late 1996 – 2001 where I worked extremely hard online day in and day out, barely taking a day off, in fact, never taking a day off! Then from 2001-2007 I was also working and making connections and networking and developing myself and the business.

I went to every convention and was on every conference call I could get on. I would even leave my son's band concert in the middle of the concert to go on a conference call. Now I never do that because I have paid the dues and have earned that luxury! I had to learn to say NO to some fun back then to get where I am now! Do what others won't do so that you can do later what others won't be able to!

Now.....when I got sick....

What would have happened if I had a traditional JOB?

YOU'RE FIRED!

What would have happened if I had an 'S' business?

I would have most likely lost all of my clients; business would be shut down, closed doors, bankrupt!

What would have happened if I was ONLY retailing products?

I would have been BROKE!

All of that income was earned because of work I did in the years previous. It took hard work in those early years! It took sacrifice, commitment, determination, courage, desire, long hours, not spending time with my family and friends, and it took putting time and MONEY into my business just like ANY business does, took support from my husband and kids and it took a never giving up attitude.

It also took getting through a lot of rejection, disappointment, discouragement, walking on hot coals, through the refining fire, people telling me one thing and doing another, failures, mistakes, spending money we didn’t have, taking risk, losing money. Donald Trump lost millions and then made it all back. Kioysaki was a million dollars in debt and he never once filed bankruptcy. He pulled himself out of it. Now I have not lost millions in Network Marketing that’s for sure.

When people complain to me that they have to spend $100 for this or $500 to start a business or that they don’t have money for a website, and on and on and on with constant complaining every time they have to put money into their business, this tells me they are not thinking like a ‘B’ quadrant person.

If they have the desire for more in their life and and want to move to the right side of the quadrant and develop a ‘B’ business and become a part of the rich (the 2% club we call it) they have to DECIDE to change their mind-set first and begin to think differently. This is where it all starts with a shift in ‘MIND-SET’..

If someone is not willing to do this I would recommend that they stay in the ‘E’ quadrant which they may have to settle for the rest of their life and do what someone else tells them. This is also IF they don't get laid off, downsized, or fired or become sick and lose their job.

Sometimes people take the victim mentality and settle for whatever comes their way.

Being in business is not for everyone and not everyone will have what it takes to become successful.

I also do not recommend they quit their ‘E’ or ‘S’ job or business and instead incorporate a ‘B’ into that and eventually they can shift things. This is what we are doing with my husband's 'E' job. His job provides our family a very sizable paycheck that we are NOT going to let go of so that we can leverage that income a bit longer.

You can learn more about this in Robert’s training.

Now I have the luxury of spending time when I want with family and friends and do what I want. I had to give up some things up front though to get here. Putting the cart before the horse though isn’t going to work to well. Everyone wants their cake and eat it too and that’s not how things work.

Now that we have bigger dreams and goals to get to a million dollar earner it’s taking a different mind-set shift on my part of learning and growing. It’s going to take some more work, time and money and a bit more sacrifice especially now that we've given our son this opportunity and we are going to all grow together!

The thing is I’ve developed myself into a solid leader with leverage now so that I can work on some things and leverage other people’s time and money at the same time while moving onward to some new exciting goals helping and training people on this same concept so that they achieve their goals and dreams.

This is about long term delayed gratification - which is what ultimately will determine your success! It’s about being patient and being able to conquer your fears and moving through the fires by constantly developing yourself with learning and growing and becoming a stronger person and developing into a leader because leaders are the ones that earn the big incomes.

Like I said you don't earn the big income FIRST and then become the leader. It's the other way around.

It all boils down to how much do you really want it?

How important really is your freedom to you?

If you lost your job today what would happen?

If you got SICK and could not run your 'S' business what would happen? Would it keep running without you?

Or if you got sick and could not sell your products what would happen to your cash flow? The rich build passive income streams.

What if something happened to your spouse or they lost THEIR job or their business?

Think about those things for awhile and ask them of your spouse? See if they are open to becoming educated on YOUR business and what it is that you really do and what owning a Network Marketing ‘B’ business will really mean for you and your family’s future..

My husband is now listening to the Robert Kiyosaki CD's that I just finished listening to called 'You Can Choose To Be Rich'.

There are 12 CD's in that series on learning about business, on improving your Financial IQ, real estate investment, understanding the different quadrants and how to start various businesses and which one is best to start – such as taking over a traditional business, buying a franchise, starting a business from scratch or starting a Network Marketing business and the pros and cons of all of those options.

He wants to be on the same page BECAUSE we are partners! We are forming our PLAN as Robert and Kim Kiyosaki teach!

What’s your plan?

About The Author
Sue is an entrepreneur, Online Marketing Coach and top income earner with her company, who has been creating an income from home online since 1996. She encourages self-growth and shows people how to develop valuable connections online and turn them into lasting relationships for long term business profits. She is also a public speaker and published author of numerous print and electronic articles as well as coauthor of the book 'Build It Big: 101 Insider Secrets From Top Direct Selling Experts' and is a rich woman coach. To find out more visit: http://www.SueSeward.com

The Accidental Role Model
by Barbara J. Winter

During my daughter Jennie's last year in college, she called me with a startling accusation. "You've ruined me," she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked while bracing myself for the worst.

"Well," she explained, "my friends are all writing their resumes and going on job interviews. I can't do that."

I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I know. I did that on purpose."

After years of working unhappily in traditional jobs, I started my first homebased business the year that Jennie went off to kindergarten. Right away, it became obvious that my daughter was reaping the rewards of having a happier mom. I was having such a good time in my new creative lifestyle that I became a better parent. I also would find little business projects for Jennie to help with, like putting stamps on a mailing. She loved it. We were growing something together and she was proud of her contribution.

Although I started my entrepreneurial life out of a desire to find more joy in what I did, I also didn't want Jennie to grow up with the negative messages I'd grown up with about work. We can't really model what we haven't learned ourselves, of course, but we can be conscious about the messages we're passing on to our children. "Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on children than the unlived lives of their parents," warned psychologist Carl Jung.

So, naturally, I'm excited when I see a parent make positive changes for themselves - like Rob McCarthy. Rob and I knew each other for years before we met. Rob worked for a large video and audio production company where I bought my seminar tapes so he was the guy I'd call when I needed to replenish my inventory. One day I called to place an order and was told that Rob no longer worked there. A month later, Rob called to tell me he'd moved to a smaller company and wondered if I'd like to move my business there. I promptly made the switch.

Then the same thing happened. I called to place an order and was told that Rob had left. A few weeks later, I got another call from Rob saying he'd decided to start his own business. "Congratulations," I said. "Where's your office?" He explained that he was running it from home and planned to create a mobile studio. He sounded excited and said it was a new experience for him to be home alone all day.

"Do you have kids?" I asked. He told me he had two. "You probably don't realize this, " I said, "but your working from home is going to have an impact on them."

"Besides being around to drive them places after school?"

"Most kids get a really negative message about work" Iexplained. "They don't understand what it is that their parents do. They just see them leave in the morning and come home tired and crabby. By the time they get ready to work themselves, they have a rather bleak picture of what's in store for them. But if you're working at home, love what you do, and involve your kids in it from time to time, they're going to get an entirely different idea about work."

"Wow," Rob said. "I never thought of that."

I cannot recall one single adult that I knew as a child who was joyful about their work. Is it any wonder, then, that many of us grow up thinking of work as a miserable life sentence? I'm optimistic that many young people are going to get a different message as more of us become committed to doing work that we love, and doing it in front of our children. Although some people decide to start a homebased business in order to spend more time with their families, I suspect that few realize that sending a positive message will be a side benefit-one that will have a lasting impact.

When Jennie was about eight years old, she decided that she wanted to go to Disneyland and decided to organize a yard sale and sell her old toys in order to fund this adventure. Her entrepreneurial spirit was already showing her how to solve problems creatively. I wish I had learned that lesson early in life.

Whether you know it or not, you may be more of a role model than you realize. A few years ago, I spent six weeks as a Junior Achievement volunteer teaching fourth graders about the free enterprises system. On my first day there, I confessed that I knew nothing about nine-year-olds.Then I told the kids that I had my own business, but I didn't have a store or an office. After I'd explained my one-person operation, I asked the class if any of them knew someone who was self-employed. At least two-thirds of them raised their hands. I suspect that wouldn't have happened even a decade ago.

I was heartened by the number of my fourth graders who had an entrepreneurial role model in their lives. It is not a responsibility to take lightly. "There is no power on earth," said Booker T. Washington, "that can neutralize the influences of a useful life."