MLM Online Training Resource

The Realities of Starting A Home Based Business

Posted on 08. Apr, 2010 by admin.

Many people have either started a home based business or are looking into starting one.  The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 49% of the nation’s businesses are operated out of the home.  Also, 6-in-10 owners used their own money to start the business.  According to Louis Kincannon, Census Bureau Director,”Home based businesses collectively generated a remarkable amount of economic activity, especially for women and minorities. Just released data also show most businesses are started by people and families who dig into their own pockets.”

There are a number of reasons why people choose to start a home-based business.  Some reasons include the following:

1. Dissatisfied with their present job situation.
2. Laid off or downsized by their employer.
3. A need to be home more with young children or aging parents.
4. A desire to be his or her own boss.

Whatever the reason, there are some necessary steps required in order to start a home business.

First, set realistic expectations.  Too many people read advertisements that are filled with hype and imply quick money making schemes generated from a home-based business.  It will take at least a year and in most cases, as much as 3 -6 years, if not more, to truly generate a significant profit from a home business.

When some individuals interested in starting a home business come in with the following mindset of, “I am broke and need to make some fast money.” or “I want to start a home based business, but don’t want to spend anything on it until after I start earning some money.”, these are two instances of people who have not dealt with reality.  Having such a mindset will most certainly lead to failure.

It takes time to develop a successful home business.  Reason is, when you start a home-based buisness, you probably have no prior experience in starting a business.  What this means is that you probably do not possess any skills or knowledge about marketing and business.  Thus, in the early stages of starting a home based business, one should be engaged in learning about business and marketing a business.

Because of the ups and downs that are guaranteed when starting a home business, the mindset of the individual is also key.  Running a home-based business will present certain challenges and your ability to meet those challenges on a daily basis will ultimately determine your success.  Entrepreneurs tend to see problems as opportunities whereas people who lack the entrepreneurial mindset tend to become frustrated more easily during these challenging periods.

Also, when choosing a home business, make sure you are connected to what is being offered.  You do not have to have experience, but trying to generate income without first having the passion and thirst for knowledge about your chosen business niche can only lead to disaster.

Starting a home-based business is a possibility, even during tough, economic times.  Putting a home business plan together, one that includes marketing strategies, will help prevent you from falling victim to the perils of home business challenges.  Also, when considering a home-based business, there is an upside to the weak economic situation that can work for you but ultimately you are the determining factor between success and failure.

How To Market A Home Based Business?  Here’s How!

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Do you Really Want To Start A Home Business?

Posted on 05. Apr, 2010 by admin.

People start a home business for various reasons.  Some want a better quality of life, some want more time with family and friends, and others want wealth, and the list goes on.  But no matter the reasons for starting a business of your own, there are realities that one must face.  First and foremost, starting a business is hard work.

Unfortunately, individuals starting a business don’t realize the amount of work it takes to build a business.  They hear all the promises of wealth, nice vacations, no more job, etc. but many members of home business opportunities have not informed those starting a business the amount of work that is required.  Thus, those who are just starting a home business come in with unrealistic dreams of success overnight or in a relatively short amount of time.

Once these individuals find out how hard it is to build a business, they soon give up and move on to another company, again with the same unrealistic expectations, or they quit altogether.

The truth of the matter is, building a home business is a process.  It will not happen overnight and it may not happen in the first, second or third year.  I am sure you have heard of people who have tried for five, six, or more years to build a successful business.  For example, look at Mike Dillard.  Here is a man who quit his job and worked as a waiter while trying for six years to reach success.  Not many have this kind of drive and passion and these two characteristics are what one needs in order to overcome the many obstacles you will encounter during your business building process.

The primary reason it takes so long is due to lack of skills in marketing.  Think about it for a moment.  Many of you have been working at jobs for many years.  While at your job, did anyone take the time out to teach you how to market a business?  The answer is, NO.  Not unless your job was in sales or real estate and then maybe you may have had some kind of marketing or sales training, but most of us have not.

The necessity of marketing skills is one key to success in any business, yet still, those individuals who are told this do little to nothing in trying to learn these skills.  Some say its too hard, it costs too much money, I don’t have the time, and more excuses.  But, I want you to do one thing.  Ask yourself why you started a home business in the first place and what did you think it was going to be like in building a business?  Did you think it was going to be easy?  You may have heard the many struggles that Donald Trump has gone through and if you know anything about Robert Kiyosaki, you know it was not easy for him.  This is true for most successful entrepreneurs.  They had to overcome many very difficult obstacles for a number of years before they achieved their success.  So, why did you think it was going to be any different for you?

I believe the reasons those who became successful is due to the fact that they finally got it.  After all their struggle and hardships, they learned from those struggles and hardships what not to do and they learned how to properly market themselves and their business.

Here is another question I ask you.  What are you currently doing to build your business?  If you are using offline marketing, you are probably talking to as many people as you can or you have purchased leads and doing cold calling, or placing ads in various newspapers, and maybe using other offline marketing methods.  If you are using online marketing, you are probably using the various social marketing sites to market you and your business, or you are submitting articles, or using pay-per-click or more.

But I bet most of you are doing little to nothing.  Why?  Have you given up?  If so, then I assume you have returned to your jobs, but if you are here looking at this, you probably have not totally given up but still not in full action in building your business.

I hear often people who tell me that they want a home business and then initially get into action and then steadily pull back.  Here’s the thing.  If you say you want a business and then do little to nothing, you are setting yourself up for failure or have already failed and just don’t know it.  It is one thing to say you want something, but it is another thing to put what you say into action for the long haul and work at it until you achieve success.  But, again, most will not.  It is your actions or lack of actions that determines your success and the first thing you must do is to invest in yourself by getting those marketing skills down.

Here is something very, very interesting that happened to me today.  I took my mother to her doctor’s appointment.  While I was sitting in the waiting room, I overhead these two men talking and what they were talking about owning a business and the economy.

One of the men talking was a successful entrepreneur who had a number of businesses throughout the United States.  He talked about his real estate company and other companies that he owned, including his seven bedroom vacation home in Florida.  The other man involved in the conversation, did not own any businesses but seemed very interested in what this man had to say.

Here is where it gets interesting.  During the conversation, the wealthy man discusses his conversation with another very wealthy man.  It was mentioned that this very wealthy man owned companies all over the world.  At this point, I want to mention that I am going to refer to the wealthy man who sitting in the doctor’s office as Man 1 and the other man who owns numerous companies around the world as Man 2.

Man 1 shares his conversation that he had with Man 2.  Man 1 stated that Man 2 did not believe that the real estate market was going to change, at least not in our lifetime.  This is not very good news for me considering I own a real estate investment company.  Just about my entire rental properties are upside down.  This home I recently bought is not, but I know that it is just a matter of time where it will be.

He also mentioned that he foresees that the current currency in the U.S. along with all of the other countries was going to be a currency used worldwide.  In the United States, he felt that the dollar bill was going to be replaced by this new form of currency.  Now, I have heard and read about this possibility, but it was interesting to hear this from someone else.

And, here is another interesting piece of the conversation.  Man 2 felt that gold and silver were going to become of more importance in many people’s lives due to the fact that the value of the dollar bill was continuing to decrease.  Man 1 even stated that he had started buying silver and gold and I know of another woman in one of my businesses had taken half of her savings and invested in silver and gold.

Although silver and gold may have decreased some but it seemingly is not as volatile as the dollar.  Man 1 also mentioned that when you invest in silver and gold, the best approach is to treat it as an investment, meaning don’t sell it immediately.  Keep it as you would your 401K and other types of investments.

One of the last statements I heard during this conversation was that Man 2 said the economy here in the United States, as well as in other countries, is going to continue to get worse before it gets any better.

You may be wondering now why I am telling you this. First, I see too many people who say they want a business and then do hardly anything to help them and help their businesses.   These individuals don’t realize that their actions or inaction have already determined that they are destined to fail or have already failed.  That is one point.

The next point is, I am a member of a company that markets silver and gold.  It is a good company that is taking off and is one way that will allow anyone to invest in silver and gold.  I chose this company because I knew that silver and gold was something to invest in and how did I know?  By listening to many of the wealthy.  Keep in mind, the wealthy got there for a reason and a lot of it has to do with the choices they made.  Those who are living paycheck to paycheck or are struggling have not made very good choices so should I listen to them or should I listen to the wealthy individuals.  By observing and listening to what the wealthy are saying and doing, I made the decision to join a company that would be beneficial to me and my family in the long run.

In other words, I am trying to plan ahead.  My personal belief is I don’t think the government is telling us everything and probably because they don’t want to cause a panic.  But, if things continue to get worse; such as the housing market, cost of living continues to go up, job loss continues, and the middle and poor class continue losing ground and eventually hope, while many of the rich continue to get wealthier, it is inevitable that many people are going to suffer like never before, probably worse than what happened during the depression.

In conclusion, I am not trying to make things look dismal, but I what I am trying to do is to help you to open your eyes and ears and starting making plans for your future.  I know some of you are and maybe it is working for you.  Well, I am not talking to those; this article is referring to those who have not made any future plans.  If you have started a home business, I suggest you re-evaluate your reasons for starting a business and if you are not getting the proper marketing training or doing anything to build a business, ask yourself why?  Now, more than ever, is the time to start planning for your future and your family’s future.  Do you have a plan?  If not, you had better start working on one.  Now is the time to take better control of your life because if you are not in control of your life, someone else is.

Home Business Wealth Building Secrets

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Internet Obsession

Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by admin.

The Internet is fast becoming just another part of everyday life, much like the TV and the computer itself. What started as something amazing, exciting, and often out of reach, has become commonplace and freely available. Technology is advancing at an amazing rate. I can remember when 56k connections were the new exciting fad that everyone just had to have, and now you’re almost abnormal if you still chug along with your trusty dial-up. The Net has become integrated into our lives, as people are becoming dependent on its services. The advent of the Internet has its threatening side though. It has been found that some people are becoming addicted to the online world.

A recent news story reported that the Finnish army has sent some of its conscripts home due to the fact that they are unable to handle the compulsory six months in the army without access to their computers. When computers and the Internet are becoming integral components or even the main focus of leisure, education, and work time, it’s not hard to see how losing access can really affect someone. I can see this new technology getting blamed for all sorts of woes in the future much in the same way television has in the present.

Internet obsession comes in many forms. The common areas of Internet obsession that are often listed are cybersex, cyber-relations, gaming, information obsession, and the simple obsession to computers and Internet in general. Information Obsession is an interesting concept to me. Basically the sheer volume of information freely available online has lead to some people desperately ‘needing’ to find out more and more. To me, getting people obsessed with learning seems kind of like a good thing, but it does seem that it can form a similar sort of mentality to drug obsession where the user is always searching for their next ‘hit’ which becomes harder and harder to find. Often the depth of information available is actually lacking. We tend to skim read information online by just picking out a few points and then moving on. I’ve found in my own case that it’s sometimes quite hard to concentrate on a page long enough to read it in its entirety. I tend to read a little until I get the basic idea and then move on. This process has carried over into the ‘real world’ in some ways with newspapers rarely keeping my interest long enough to actually get through a whole article of any real length. I’ve witnessed similar experiences with friends and families and I think that attention spans are gradually getting shorter.

This means that probably more than half of the people who come across this article have stopped reading by now. Their interest has waned and they’ve moved on for the next tidbit. I could probably get away with padding the end of this article with the word ‘chicken’ and it would go relatively chicken unnoticed due to the skimming nature of article reading.

A quick Internet search will reveal that Internet obsession is actually more of a problem than many would choose to believe. Chicken. There are several websites and foundations on the Web dedicated to helping people over their Internet obsession. I found that humorously ironic…websites dedicated to helping people get over Internet obsession…it’s kind of like printing anti-drinking messages on the inside bottom of a beer can. The cynic in me can’t help but wonder about the validity of these online services. A common question in the ‘Could You Be Addicted to the Internet?’ questionnaires is ‘Do you have trouble controlling the urge to make purchases online?’, and then they encourage you to send them $90 to book an online chat room counseling session!

It shouldn’t be too hard to work out if you’re addicted to the Internet. Do you find that when you get offline you’re frequently surprised by the amount of time that has passed? Do you find yourself staying home because you’d rather use the Internet than do something else chicken? Do people comment on the amount of time you spend online? If this is ringing a bell then you may have to look at what you’re doing.

I don’t know how severe Internet obsession can get. Presumably it’s as problematic as any other obsession. I shouldn’t downplay it or the therapy institutions out there offering help. I will take a guess and say that, at least to some degree, people simply being aware of what can happen can probably prevent it. Don’t be afraid to do something if you notice problems in yourself or a friend. Just try cutting back on your usage for a while until it’s under your control. Like any problem, don’t be afraid to get friends involved. If it’s particularly serious you could try installing a parental control program that limits your access to the Internet, and get a friend to choose and keep the disabling password secret from you. Stay aware, alert, and in control and your Internet use can and will be a beneficial part of life.

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Make Money From Home And Leave The Stress Behind

Posted on 12. Jan, 2010 by admin.

There are so many ways in which to generate an income from home.  One of the ways is through network marketing.  In fact, network marketing is one of the best money makers because it allows you to generate residual income.  Do it once and get paid forever, as the saying goes.

A good network marketing company can provide a full time income by working from home part time. With an income opportunity and help from an established, reputable internet marketing company, an online entrepreneur can learn numerous ways of marketing and generate a good steady income from multiple streams.

One key element to establishing success in the home business industry is to not become a member of a home based business just because of the money. The reality is money is not enough to keep you involved in your business.  Why?  Because as a business person, you are going to experience mistakes and even failures.  Those who just want the money, most often either quit and look for another opportunity or they quit forever.  A true entrepreneur will tend to learn from his or her mistakes and keep moving forward.  The mistakes and failures are the instruments, so to speak, that gauge whether you are doing something wrong or right. Learning is what every entrepreneur will do for the entire time he or she has a business.  There is no graduation for entrepreneurs.  In addition, the the mistakes and failures will give you the skills you need to develop a business and it will strengthen you.  Building a business is difficult, so you need the strength; and the strength I am referring to is mental strength.  Running a business is 95% mental and 10% physical. Be sure you do the things to address your mindset so that your thinking is in the right place at all the times.

But, “Why do so many people fail in home businesses or network marketing?”  To answer this question, lets ask ourselves, “How many new home based business owners have experience with running a business?”  Another question to ask ourselves is “How many know how to market a business?”  More than likely very few have any experience at all with having a business of their own and have no skills in marketing.  This is one of the primary reasons most people fail in network marketing or a home business.

Without skills, it is a guarantee that you will fail.  Skills are crucial to your business success.  I know many companies offer trainings of some sort, but the truth of the matter is, the training received by many of their members in these companies is poor and even worst, do not work. Unfortunately, many of these companies know that many of you are going to fail, but they also know that there are those who will succeed and these are the ones the company will generate a huge profit.   So, what do you do?  Where can you get these skills?  I suggest becoming a member of a marketing system.  If you use primarily offline marketing and you are experiencing success with it, then by all means continue to use it, but keep in mind, not everyone is going to want or feel comfortable using promotional methods that you use.  It is good to be able to offer alternative marketing strategies to members in your business. If you are interested in learning how to use the internet to market your business, then there is good news.  There are many marketing systems that are available.  You just have to shop around and try them out.  See which one works best for you.  Not all of them are the same.

To help you make the right choices in selecting a marketing system, here are some things to look for:

1. Trainings should be in video format.  This makes it easier to learn because you can replay, watch, and learn whenever you want.

2. There should be available a sales funnel, which is a way for you to generate an income while you are honing in on your marketing skills.  Which is great!  No more staying poor and spending your own money on your marketing.  You can now generate an income to either put back into your business or place into your bank account  If you get good at generating leads, you can generate a full-time income using the sales funnel.  Usually the marketing system provides trainings on how to setup your funnel.  If they don’t, look for another marketing system.  Engaging in research on the various marketing systems could very well lead to your success, so be selective. This is your business and you want to make the best choices for it.

3. There should be webinars at least once per week and in some cases, twice.  For those who  are not able to attend the webinars, the marketing system should place a recorded version of the webinar into your back office, so you can view them when it is convenient for you.  Not everyone is on the same time schedule.

4. Support from the network marketing training system should also be available.  You should be able to get support by entering a ticket or by calling or both.  You should not have to learn how to market online alone. In fact, it is better that you become a member of a online marketing system.  Learning on your own will be very difficult and it will take longer for you to learn the correct marketing skills.

5. Lastly, you should be open to learning new skills and be self-driven, which means have a strong reason why you want a business.  When situations in you life become difficult, your reasons for wanting a business, other than just money,  will be the driving force to keep you going.  Not everything is going to work out perfectly.  This is not a perfect world, so learn to go with the flow, learn how to find solutions to your own problems in your business and in your life, and learn to trust yourself and believe in yourself.

Learning how to make money from home takes time and effort.  If you are looking for the quick fix or get rich quick schemes, there are very few that are legit.  Many people who become members of such a system, walk or run feeling disappointed and usually are more broke than they were when they first got started.  There are many network marketing businesses on the internet to choose from.  Do your research and find one that you think you will enjoy and is legitimate. I always suggest that an individual should select a company that has been around for a while; especially if you are new to the network marketing industry.  Once you have learned the ropes of running a business using the internet and you are generating an income, then you can start searching for other businesses, even new launches, but be prepared for disappointments.  Not every new home business will survive in network marketing.  This industry is a tough industry, not only for the participants, but also for the network marketing companies.

One last suggestion I want to offer is, give yourself time to learn about running and marketing a business.  Be patient.  Your time will come, and do not worry about the performances of others.  Your focus should be on learning and getting skills in marketing.  Do not give up just because things get difficult. Building a business is supposed to be hard.  If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it.  If you are starting a business of your own or have a business of your own, keep in mind that you have chosen the path least traveled.  There is no better time to start a business making money at home.  Working for you will enable you to eliminate the day to day stresses that having a job brings. Bare in mind one additional thought, “Successful people do what unsuccessful people won’t do”.  Work hard at being Successful!

How To Make Money From Home

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What has the holidays got to do with your MLM network marketing?

Posted on 29. Oct, 2009 by admin.

What can you do to accelerate your MLM network marketing business during the Holiday season and gets it going during what most people think as the “sluggish time” of the year for network marketing?

Some things you can do for your MLM network marketing success during the holidays.

1. Fruit baskets.

You can get inexpensively small fruit baskets, put your samples or coupons in and decorate it in the colors of your MLM network marketing company.

Include an invite to a seminar that they can attend at not cost. Give them out to friends, neighbors, associates, clients, customers, and family. You will glad you did.

2. Holiday audio cards.

Send out with your Christmas cards a CD you recorded especially for that person, and wish them happy holidays. Then tell them you would love to chat with them at the start of the year because you want to give them the gift of success.

This is a great way to introduce the concept of MLM network marketing success to these folks.
3. Hold a holiday customer appreciation luncheon or reception.

You can do this at your home. Simply invite your best MLM customers to a holiday appreciation event, and make them the superstars of that party.

Have small gifts for them, and let them know how much you appreciate their business. Then ask them for referrals for the coming year. You will get them from every single person who was at that event.

4. Holiday upline open house.

If you have an organization, you could either open your house or someone who has a sizeable home and invite your MLM network marketing distributors to an open house.

Have them bring guests. Have a party that celebrates the holidays but is sponsored by your company. Let it be a fun social with music and games, and then connect with the guest to follow up in January.

5. Neighborhood holiday mailer.

Go to the library, and look in the cross-reference index for your address. You will notice there are a ton more in that index that are in your neighborhood.

Make a copy of the addresses, as they are your neighbors, then send them a Christmas card introducing yourself as their neighborhood rep, and wish them a Merry Christmas and Happy new year.

Then follow up in January and see if you can set an appointment to chat with them about your MLM networking products. Telephone numbers are included on the cross-index reference guides found in your library. You are their neighbor, and that gives you some instant connection with them.

6. Visit community holiday functions.

The thing is to connect, connect and connect.
You need to connect to new prospects during the holidays and community functions are a great way to do this. Get out and become a “holiday MLM network marketing machine.”

Network and meet people and make new friends and give away something to them as a holiday gift. Make sure every person you talk to has a gift and your card. And that you have some form of contact info as well. Check your Sunday newspaper for where these events are.

7. The holiday success card.

Send people you know, and also prospect a seasonal card, and include within it an article about success, goal setting, leadership, time management, or any other success oriented topic. This will set you apart from the rest.

Rock your MLM network marketing business during the holidays. You will be surprised at what might happen to your business.

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MLM Traffic Formula 2.0 Testimony…

Posted on 21. Oct, 2009 by admin.

Today, I thought I would share a story about someone whom I have never met, but who sent me a very nice email about his success in his business.

He took the time to contact me because one of his friends, who happens to live in Spain, saw one of my videos and sent my video for him to watch.   Now, in my video I am talking about one of Mike Dillards products, MLM Traffic Formula 2.0.

Here is what he said in his email:

******************************

Hi Lawren

Just wanted to say a big thank you for posting your video on MetaCafe. Your video literally changed my life.

I have a friend in Madrid, Spain with whom I talk to via Skype on regular basis (I’m in Vancouver, BC). A few months ago I was telling him about the MLM business I was struggling with at the time, and he forwarded me the link to your video that he got from God knows who for God knows what reason (he’s not in the industry).

I watched it the same day, only to discover that Mike Dillard’s Traffic Formula 2 sales were closed as of that very day forward. That was a bummer, but I was still sold on getting my hands onto at least one of his courses, so I got Magnetic Sponsoring and Black Belt Recruiting.

Black Belt changed everything for me. I had no lead generation system at the time, but I decided to apply the techniques on a couple of friends, and in one evening I had two people ready to get started (one never even saw the company’s plan). I turned them down and immediately got my hands on every other course Mike had, and a results were unbelievable.

All because of that video that you posted (thank you!)

Just the other day I was able to get my hands on one of the only 94 copies of his highest-prized System Formula course left. As a result of taking your advice, my traditional business has turned around, my MLM system is slowly coming together (I was able to join MLM Traffic Formula 2.0 course during that one day when it went back on the shelves), and I can now sleep well at night as I learned skills that I can apply in any business, not just MLM, and expect the results with certainty.

So, if you haven’t heard it enough times by now – THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

You literally saved my life with that video.

P.S. I opted into your autoresponder because I was hoping I would get your contact information (as I did), so I could say thank you. Just so you know – when you see my contact info in there.

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