How Network Marketing Home Business and a Pyramid Scheme are not related

How Network Marketing home business and a pyramid scheme are not related...

There is nothing that comes close to the network marketing home business model as the perfect home business opportunity…low entry cost, high profit potential, often positive natural health based, co-operative relationship growth versus competition, education versus selling, and the benefits continue.
In my experience, however, it’s always interesting and definitely sad, to see how many people relate legitimate, honest network marketing home businesses to illegal pyramid schemes. The sad part, is because of misinformation, people don’t even take the cover off this home business and miss out on a potentially great way to make extra income and be healthy for their whole family.

It is another huge reason why my team always advocates public education with a simple generic program to explain the main concepts of network marketing and how they differ from fraudulent schemes.

In the meantime, here is an excellent article by a networker with his viewpoints and explanation of the differences.
Your questions and comments are always welcome,
Annemarie


Have your heard that network marketing is a pyramid scheme?
I had a customer recently criticize network marketing as a scam. Her first point was all the pay-per-click ads she had seen on Google claiming that network marketing is a scam. If she had clicked them or even looked at the URL she would have seen that it was actually someone selling a training program like that teaches network marketers how to prospect online.

Her second argument gets into the old pyramid scheme idea. She sees network marketing as a scam where a bunch of people sit around doing nothing and collect a check every month from the efforts of the people beneath them. That does sound like a pyramid scheme. It is also the view some people have of any corporate structure. I want to address that now.

First of all, real pyramid schemes are illegal because members make money only by signing people up. That’s it. There’s no product or any other benefit to being a member. The last people to sign up before the scheme collapses get screwed over. That’s not network marketing.

One way to look at network marketing is that it is a way for companies to outsource their sales force. Each company that the sales work is outsourced to has the right to sell the products and further outsource to other companies. This lets the network marketing company to focus its efforts on product research and development. The network marketers are effectively small sales companies that don’t have to worry about product development. They are free to focus on sales and are paid based on how much product they sell.

The great benefit for you just starting out is that your advancement in the organization is completely unlimited. In any traditional sales organization there is a structure of VP of Sales, regional managers, district managers, and so on. It has a pyramid-like structure. In order to advance you have to wait for one of the people above you to leave the organization.

Network marketing doesn’t have a pyramid structure. When you join my team there is nothing to stop you from advancing beyond me. There are at least two places in my upline where the sponsored consultant outranks their sponsor. That could never happen in a corporate structure and definitely not in a pyramid.
And as for them all sitting around and collecting money from my sales efforts? That just isn’t true either. They put a lot time and effort into training and support for their many downlines.

I hope that clears it up a little.
Wayne Woodworth Internet Network Marketer

Make your Home Business Choice: 10-Step Cha-Cha-Cha or 3-Step Shuffle?

Your Home Business choice: 10 Step Cha-Cha-Cha or 3-Step Shuffle?

No one ever said starting a business would be easy, but once you make the decision to start one, it’s all you can think about. You’ve probably checked out numerous home business opportunities. Here is an interesting analogy to help your decision making process

10 Step CHA-CHA-CHA for Home Business Professionals


STEP 1: Do What You Love…GREAT IDEA
Believe in something you can share with others to make their lives better


STEP 2: Do Your Homework
Prepare a cash flow plan with accountant…budget..expenses.. return on investment.Make sure you have enough money and resources.


STEP 3: Create a business Plan
Set short term and long term goals, prepare for setbacks, source of funding, marketing expenses. Use templates for step by step creation.



STEP 4: Research the market: Are people already paying someone for the product or service you want to offer? What is your Unique Selling Proposition? Competitive Edge? Find out what your competitors are doing—
Always try and offer something that no other company provides or fulfills a solution to a problem or need It’s called staying on the “cutting edge”



STEP 5: Set a Realistic Price: If you create your own product, make sure the price you set is based on presentation, statistics, and credibility. Pretend you are the client and you are looking for something fair, competitive, and sensible. Always take overhead and production costs into consideration to include the final price to ensure you make a profit.



STEP 6: Create Your Image, Brand or Logo Your image or brand will define your product or service and is one of your most important assets and how people will talk about your company. Don’t spare the expense here. You want to set positive first impressions and opinions…Will a potential customer want to recommend or return?



STEP 7: Create Professional Informational Material:
Be ready to distribute one-page flyers or brochures or an informational website. Make sure your look is updated to attract new business.



STEP 8. Plan Your Strategy. Set up a business plan that outlines the details of your business, organization, overall goals, trouble-shooting, and how to track and measure results. This Business Process is essential to streamline and help you avoid potential problems. Customers appreciate efficiency and ease of use.


STEP 9: Your Marketing Plan ..this is the BIG ONE! THE GRAND FINALE! THE BIGGEST EXPENSE to fit into your budget! Lack of marketing is the #1 reason why any business fails.

This includes some complex maneuvers such as advertising channels at the local level, reaching your primary target audience, joining local chambers of commerce, leads groups and/or business organizations to develop strong business relationships for qualified leads and referrals, checking out Business Directories. This is for offline advertising..and now, of course all the new online marketing to establish brand awareness..blogs, websites, social media….this is huge and if done well deserves massive applause from a massive audience.

STEP 10: Stay Positive…wow this is very important after all these steps
This is a standard expectation…To think positive…don’t let doubt or fear interfere with your goals..even when it gets rough, as it surely well from time to time. Keep steering..as long as your compass is set with careful planning and a well thought out strategy, you will reach the final destination of business success.




I’m thinking of the comparison now between another very popular TV show Dancing with the Stars. Those dancers are so professional and so successful with all those amazing steps and strategies..it boggles the mind..can we ever learn to be that successful?

But I’m not a business professional..and I don't have months or years but I still deserve an equal chance to dance, to dare, to dream, to be the best Ican be, to create a beautiful life for myself and my family…

For me , a 3-step Shuffle will do just fine as long as I get results…more and more profits for my efforts. I want the opportunity to plug into a successful company and they do the "heavy work" for me…

manufacturing, researching, pricing, competive cutting-edges, shipping, accounting, branding, promotional materials, accounting, back office administration.

In return I will help to market and recommend their products and get paid multiple commissions.

Therefore, the home business marketing plan becomes the key to my success…and a 3-Step Plan or Strategy is something I can learn easily:

STEP 1. Educate..get the facts so I know what to do
STEP 2. Empower..get the belief system..I’m good..I can do this..
STEP 3. Change is now very real and exciting…a sizzle phone call, an amazing network marketing company and extraordinary product.

The stars are within MY reach now
My judgment is my choice..will I? …won’t I? …wonder what if?..celebrate?
It’s my choice…my fortune..my legacy…

BLOG: Can you really find a Home Business in a Box or Hope in a Capsule or…

I came across a bold title that caught my attention immediately:
Gastric Surgery in a Bottle!
OK…so now I have a serious case of “cognitive dissonance” where pictures of reality just don’t fit within given frames.
Gastric surgery is pictured as an extreme open surgery, very expensive, recommended by a medical professional, surrounded by specialists, painful recuperative time and life-long severe diet restrictions. Can you visualize all that activity enclosed in a glass bottle
realistically. Of course, we know it is meant with imagination.

The gastric program consisted of swallowing one or two capsules 30 minutes before a meal with a lot of pre-measured water. Each tiny microbead inside the capsule absorbed the water and expanded 500 times in less than 2 minutes. This “stuff” filled the stomach at least 80% full which, of course, left little room for actual food and you ate less.
How does the body get rid of this “stuff”…apparently by safely flushing it out through the system. And soon, the slim body you always wanted is transformed in front of the mirror with minimal effort. Is anybody concerned about nutritional deficiencies?

Hope in a capsule? It is an imaginary picture that maybe works in advertisements full of happy people. But abstractions like hope or success must be based on real actions with tangible causes and effects. To reach any destination is a journey of a thousand steps. By managing the quality of individual steps, we can ultimately measure the quality of our journey’s destination. We realize our hopes and deserve our successes.

So is there such a thing as a “home business in a box?”….I’ve come across that heading also. Once again, any business, including home business, is a serious venture with multiple factors and daily permutations. Here is just a handful of step-by-step variables you need to manage: market research, inventory, production, personnel, accounts receivable and payable, customers, freight, technology, time commitments and the list goes on. Most importantly, is sales and marketing expertise to get your business into the competitive marketplace in order to make income and, potentially, profits. Can you visualize all this activity contained in a box in its own microcosm?

The good news is that home business factors have changed dramatically in our modern Information Economy. Technological advances have simplified and multiplied the process of “intellectual distribution” worldwide. Home business entrepreneurs can plug into huge successful companies and help to market their products to earn residual commissions. They can leverage their time and knowledge with information tools 24/7 and break the income cap set physically by a 40 hour week. However, most importantly, the key remains the expert marketing plan in order to attract customers and partners.
In checking out the possibilities of a home business, make sure the marketing plan is simplified in order to multiply your profits. Keep it low-cost and time-efficient.

Can I have a “home business in a box?” Yes, I CAN DO IT and YOU CAN, TOO.

Standing by to answer questions, discuss options, or learn more about what you hope to achieve with your profitable home business...
AnneMarie