So you want to build an online business
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Online Success MagazineArticle was created by Lon Lindsey. Hope you find it helpful.
So you've made a decision that you want to start an online business?
My guess is you are being pulled in many directions. Which company?
What kind of products? Which pay plan? Who should my sponsor be? You
are filled with excitement yet you also have feelings of frustration
and basically don't know where to go from here.
I share your frustration because my frustration is trying to
lead people so they make the right decision for themselves. My hope is
I can utilize my experience and knowledge as a way to guide you to what
is right for you. My experience has been in the world of network
marketing and although you may or may not get involved in a network
marketing business, much of what I have experienced and learned will
apply to other things as well.
I'm trying to put myself in your place. I'm thinking back when
I got started in network marketing 25 years ago. I think back how I
loved the concept, yet I knew nothing. It intrigued me and eventually
consumed me due to a passion for it that probably quietly led me away
from my job and wanting to stay in my job.
I look back and wonder if it was my love for networking that
caused me to dislike my job more or was it a dislike for my job that
caused me to love networking more. It was probably a combination, but
the thing is, networking became a major love in my life even to the
extent that my family had to 'put me in place' at one point because it
consumed me.
I probably have a personality flaw that when I get involved in
something, it consumes me and it drives me. I know too much of
anything...good or bad...is not good. We need a balance in our lives.
In fact, that is one of the things I'm trying to work on now...is a
balance in my life. I'm also reading 'The Purpose Driven Life' by Rick
Warren as a way to help me identify what my real purpose in life is.
Anyway...I'm getting off on a tangent here, but want you to see where
I've been in this journey.
How is money made in networking? That is important because, if
money is not made by people who are doing it, then only companies
benefit. It all comes down to this: something must be sold in order to
generate commissions. Without such, it is a money game or illegal
pyramid scheme.
Networking was established as a way to make money by sharing
products and the business opportunity with other people. It was
developed as a people to people advertising approach. You see, for the
beginner, the way to make money in networking is through selling the
product. That is because when starting out, one has no organization
that generates commissions based either on a MLM model or affiliate
model so the 'quick cash' so to speak has to be via the product.
Unfortunately, that is not what people want to hear. They don't
really want to 'sell' products. They just want to make money by telling
others about the 'way to make money'. Successful networkers know you
cannot short cut the process and skip over the most important part of
any business. Remember, if nothing is ever sold, then no money is ever
earned. That's just the way it is.
So, for the beginner, the way to generate 'quick profits' is
you have to purchase product at wholesale and sell it at retail. That
is where you earn profits, not only to cover your product cost, but to
give you a profit that can also help you to market the products and the
business as well. Any business requires a cost to market what you are
selling. Whether you go person to person (your time) or you advertise
via several advertising approaches, it is going to cost you money to do
that.
That is how I started out. In fact, I still do some of that with Watkins.
I made my initial profits by selling products and then as my
organization grew, I earned money from the organization which actually
paid me more in time than what I was making selling the products.
What I'm trying to point out is TRUE NETWORKING is about being
product focused and then sharing the products with both potential
customers and potential distributors. It also has to do with products
you can believe in and that means using them yourself as well.
A marketing guru once told me that any business you work must
be based on 70% customers and 30% distributors understanding that maybe
only 10% of those distributors would actually do anything yet if those
distributors are simply customers as well, that is ok.
What that means is you have to have products that people will
use even if they don't make money. So, that means representing a
product oriented business and first sharing the products and then the
business. It's product loyalty that really counts and that is why after
all these years I'm still making money with Watkins where other
programs/income have come and gone for me.
So why do I work some of these other programs that are not so
product oriented? Good question. For me? It's because it is too easy
not to. In other words, I have built up a following of people who are
not into the 'product' thing and instead are interested in the 'making
money' thing.
It's too easy for me to just email like-minded people and get
them into these kinds of programs because that is what they are looking
for. Perhaps there is some truth in 'you reap what you sew'. So. if I
email people teasing them with 'no product to sell'...no product to
inventory...and all that stuff, then those are the kind of people I am
going to find.
The problem? I make money by doing that and you can too but as
I think about it...I am making money that way because I have built up a
sizeable list of like-minded people so it is usually easy for me to get
into something and immediately be in profit.
The bad? It's too easy to get into things and that lessens my
focus in what I'm doing. Because I can make money in these kinds of
programs, I can afford to purchase more leads and keep the cycle going.
As I guide you as to what to do, perhaps I need to say 'do as I
say and not as I do.' I mean it is not fair for me to suggest you can
duplicate what I've done in 25 years (ten of which has been on the
Internet) in just a year yet you need to make money 'now' just to fund
what you are doing.
With that said, I feel what you really need is something that
will pay you 'now' as you build your organization or group for
long-term income. That means you would need to promote a product
oriented company and purchase products at wholesale and sell them at
retail (like what I did in Watkins) OR find a company that will pay you
in a similar way just as if you were purchasing at wholesale and
selling at retail, perhaps 'Fast Start' bonuses.
Because of the arrival of the Internet, many companies have
started up with 'online type' products so the cost of producing and
shipping those products are so low, they can pay out excellent
commissions. The problem? Often times it's the pay plan that attracts
rather than the products, thus if someone doesn't really have a need or
desire for the products, and they don't make money quickly, they quit,
therefore you have the problem of excessive attrition.
The reason they didn't make money fast enough was it is so hard
to find others who will do the same because there are so many other
opportunities out there. What that means is, they have to purchase
thousands and thousands of leads just to get a few people and usually
that won't cover the cost of the leads so the returns are not enough to
justify the expense in the short term.
For example, there is a program out there with a very
attractive pay plan. For example, you receive $25 for every initial
sign up which is just like your purchasing a product at wholesale and
selling it at retail. The matrix becomes the long-term residual income
part of the business. The matching bonuses are also good.
The problem? If you lead with what their product is, you would
get few sign ups because people don't really 'want' what they have.
When they join, they do so based only on making money. We are bypassing
the fundamentals of networking. That is, love of product and sharing
that love with others and then sharing the opportunity. A seasoned
marketer like me who already has a database of followers they can go to
will make lots of money with a program like this, but for the beginner,
it is a failure waiting to happen.
As I honestly guide you as to what you should do it would be
unfair of me to think you can do in a year what has taken me several
years to learn unless you have an expendable budget that you can
purchase the tools necessary and leads necessary to do what I'm doing.
Any kind of marketing is a process over time but what is essential is
having cash flow for now as you build up a residual income.
So, based on the above, I can honestly suggest you find:
A business that provides a product or products that you believe
in to the point that you will use them whether you make money or not.
Products that benefit you or products you need to operate your
business.
A business that will pay you profits based on others purchasing
the products. This could be in the form of fast-start commissions or
anything that will give you the opportunity for some cash flow based on
sharing these products with others.
A business that will pay you based on your sharing the business model and products with other like-minded people.
A business you can focus on and put blinders on and keep out all
the other businesses. Don't do what I do...do as I say (grin). The more
businesses you get in, the less focus you will have and you will become
overwhelmed and be so confused you won't know what direction you are
going in. Find one business and focus on two things...
- That business and
- Building your own contact list
Just a note here: Building your contact list should be an ongoing activity for you. Go here to read why most people never sign up anyone in their business or program.
A business you can be so passionate about that you will create
business growth just due to your own excitement. Your own excitement
will guide you as to what to do. It will drive you.
When you have a belief in the products, the company and
yourself, magical things happen, but even then they don't happen
immediately. It's still a process.
Lon Lindsey
Internet Marketing Consultant
Developer of HomeBizQuiz
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