Many people go into a business opportunity without doing proper research or really knowing what it takes to be successful. The internet has made it easy to spread information and websites claiming amazing success stories of money being made at the click of a mouse abound. There are also thousands of MLM companies out there, all claiming to be the best. What is the reality, and how can you be successful?

The truth of the matter is that most people who get involved in an MLM or home based business opportunity do not succeed. There are also many who succeed in a very big way—but they are in the minority. So what does it take to be successful?

The first thing to consider is you. Are you suited to working for yourself? Here are just a few questions to ask yourself:

• Do I have a very strong drive and determination to succeed?
• Am I persistent, and won’t quit until I succeed?
• Am I willing and able to learn new skills?
• What is my relationship to money? (Many of us have subconscious blocks to financial abundance.)
• Do I have the self-discipline to work on my own?
• How much do I need to invest in my business?
• Will working at home disrupt my personal and family lifestyle patterns?
• Will I have enough interaction with others to be satisfying?
• Will I be able to balance family and business needs?

OK, so let’s say you answer all those questions, and you want to move forward in a home based business. What will you have to do to be successful? What is it that nobody ever seems to tell you about being in business for yourself?

The short and simple answer is MARKETING… in order to succeed, you need to market! In other words, you need to make people aware of your business and give them the information they need. Regardless of the product or the service you are offering, you are going to have to market! Pick a company, product or service that resonates with you, that you can believe in, and then start marketing! There are two broad categories for marketing an MLM or home based business…

1. You can network with people you know, or find other people to network with. This is the “old school” method of network marketing—and it still works—if you have the personality for it. You need to really enjoy connecting with people, talking on the phone, and perhaps doing meetings. You also need to be able to accept a fair amount of rejection, since not 100% of those you show your business to will be interested.
2. You can put your information “out there” and let people come to you. This is what marketing on the internet is all about, and this also works—if you have the personality for it.

Both of these marketing methods require knowledge and skill—so a question to ask yourself is, “Do I have the knowledge and skills necessary?” The answer is probably “No” if you have not done this before. So is that the end of it? This is where it’s important to be honest with yourself about the answer to the questions above.

You will need drive and determination, persistence, the willingness to learn new skills, self-discipline, etc., etc.—but HOW will you learn what you need to know? That is the 64,000 dollar question.

Can you find a system that you can plug into that will automate many of the marketing tasks you need to have in place? Can you find the training that will teach you the skills you need to market online? Can you find mentors who can teach you confidence and leadership? The answer is “Yes.” There are systems out there available, and training available, and mentors available. The best option is if you can find all three in one place, and that it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

I’ve plugged myself into such a system, and I plan on staying plugged in. This gives me a huge leg up since there is so much in place for me already that I don’t have to start from scratch. It’s also a huge help as far as helping others get started, since I can offer them so much without having to personally hold their hands for each and every little thing since they can plug into the same system. It’s a win-win.

See the system I use: Exclusive Self-Funded System

Times are tough for many Americans. The economy has taken a big hit, the market is still 15% down from where it was 3 years ago, the real estate market is still suffering and houses are probably still overvalued, and many Americans owe more money on their houses than their houses are worth. Americans still spend more money than they make (though the tough times are having a positive influence on this trend) and the United States has the biggest debt in its history.

So how can YOU prosper when times are so tough? Certainly this cannot be done though employment. Sure, you can work two or three jobs to try to get ahead, and totally burn yourself out, and probably still not get ahead enough. No—the only way to really get ahead is to use leverage. Check out Robert Kiyosaki’s books, like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Cash Flow Quadrant, and a book he co-wrote with Donald Trump, Why We Want You to Be Rich.

Robert Kiyosaki's Cash-Flow Quadrant

In The Cash Flow Quadrant, Kiyosaki explains that there are two sides to the quadrant, and you want to get from the left side to the right side. The left side has Employees and the Self-employed, while the right side has the Business owners, and the Investors. The object, if you want to achieve financial freedom, is to get from the top left quadrant (employee), to the bottom right quadrant (investor). When you’re an employee, you have a job. When you are self-employed you own a job. When you become a business owner, you own a system and people work for you (leverage), and when you are an investor, money works for you (even more leverage).

You can jump from being an employee or self-employed and become a business owner, more easily than you might have imagined. You may think that being a business owner means owning some type of “brick and mortar” business, a franchise, or a manufacturing facility—but those businesses are all very expensive to get into. There is an industry you can get into that does not cost an arm and a leg, and that is network marketing/direct sales.  “Network marketing gives people the opportunity, with very low risk and very low financial commitment, to build their own income-generating asset and acquire great wealth.” —Robert Kiyosaki, Entrepreneur, Businessman and Author

Is network marketing the answer for everyone? Of course not, nothing is. But if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, are ready to learn new things, willing to take charge, want to be a leader, love to help other people, and know how to focus on your desires… this is an amazing industry. Not only does it provide an opportunity to acquire financial wealth, it provides an amazing opportunity for personal growth.

Kiyosaki says, “For people choosing to use a network marketing system to build a business in the B quadrant, the price of entry is a lot lower, the risks are lower, and the education and support are there to guide you through this personal development process.” In his book Business School For People Who like Helping People, Kiyosaki explores eight hidden values of a network marketing business. Very briefly, they are:

1. It’s a system of business education
2. You can change quadrants instead of just changing jobs (and gain more leverage)
3. You can gain access into a B quadrant business for a low price
4. You can invest in the same investments the rich invest in—as you begin to gain leverage, you can begin to have our money work for you
5. You can begin to live your dreams
6. You have the value of a network
7. Your values determine your reality—and this is something to think about if you are thinking about network marketing. The values you have as an employee (like security) are very different from the values you need to have to be a business owner (freedom).
8. You will learn leadership skills. In a good network marketing company you will have the opportunity and the mentors to help you develop your leadership skills.

Kiyosaki also recommends steps to take, should you decide to join a network marketing company, from deciding to make changes in your life to defining your goals to studying to become an expert and have the most value to offer to others. Ultimately, it is what you have to offer others that will ensure your success—not your product or service, but what you yourself can assist with, teach, encourage, and inspire in others.

Sounds pretty exciting, doesn’t it?

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If you hate marketing, it’s going to be very difficult to have a successful business! If you believe that marketing means talking to people you don’t know, trying to convince them that they need what you are selling… well, marketing will be quite a challenge.

So, do you give up marketing? Not if you want to have a successful business! What you need to do is to give up your old beliefs and mindset about marketing and adopt new beliefs and a new approach.

Start with redefining what marketing is. Marketing is providing information to allow others to make a decision on a product or service.

Your mindset and attitude are what are going to make your marketing efforts successful. Approach your marketing with the idea that you want to help people and provide value and solve problems. You have something to GIVE. So come from a place of giving, rather than a place of asking. Come from a place of genuine interest and caring about the people you are connecting with.

Your prospect has a problem that needs to be solved. You have a solution. But before you offer any solution, it’s important that you listen. What is going to make you successful in your business is to provide value and to help people solve their problems. People always want to be listened to before they want to be talked at. Learn to ask open ended questions (questions that cannot just be answered with a “yes” or a “no”). Then LISTEN. This might include a short comment or word of agreement or acknowledgement, or sometimes repeating back what you believe you heard, but it should NOT include interrupting or talking about yourself or the features of the product or service you are offering.

When people feel heard they will feel you are truly connecting with them, and they will trust you. After you have established rapport with your prospects, then you might tell them about the benefits of your product or service—NOT the features, but the benefits. How will this benefit THEM? How will it solve their problem?

Your goal should be connecting with people. This can be in person, on the phone, in printed ads, in audio or video messages—whatever. Successful business comes from successful relationships or connections. In order to connect successfully, you need to be genuine and real—you need to be yourself. People are automatically attracted to people who are comfortable with themselves. When you learn to come from a genuine place of wanting to help others, your marketing efforts will be successful.

So, your biggest challenge in marketing is going to be being comfortable with yourself and believing in yourself. The actual mechanical skills you need to learn in order to do the marketing is secondary. Successful marketing is not just mechanical or technical skills, it comes from your attitude and approach.

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There are many factors that are important for success, but I am thinking of one that is absolutely  essential. Very simply said, it’s B E L I E F. You must believe you can be successful, you must believe in yourself, you must believe that your goals are achievable, you must believe in the product or service you are promoting, and you must believe you have something of value to offer to others. If you don’t believe, success is going to be beyond your reach. Success does not depend on luck, it depends on taking steps to move yourself in the direction you want to go in. If you don’t believe you can do it, well, you can’t. I think it was Henry Ford who said something like, “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.”

Some people already have belief built into their mindsets. But most of us have to work at it. We have all kinds of “stuff” in our past experience which has created subconscious thought and action patterns. That is why it’s really important to work on self-development. The first step to growth is always awareness. As we become aware of our limiting beliefs and patterns, we can start to shine the light in those dark places and become willing to let go of those limiting beliefs. This is a process, it very rarely happens instantly. (Well, it’s kind of like that overnight success thing… somebody spends years working and maybe failing at something, then suddenly everything falls into place, and this person is called an “instant success.”) Every step leads to another step, every block placed is a building block for the next block.

So start working on your own belief in yourself. That will be the most important block to put into place.

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Some people are positively afraid of network marketing. They think it means selling stuff that people don’t want, mostly to friends and family. But that is the perspective of people who have not taken it seriously as a business. In this world there are basically two ways of making a living– one is to work for somebody else, and the other is to work for oneself. In either case you are providing a product or a service. (Ever heard of a business that does not provide a product or a service?) In either case, in order for that business to thrive, people need to know about it. And that’s what marketing is all about. Network marketing is just one way for a business to sell its products or services.

The great thing about network marketing is that you are your own boss. You make the decisions for your business, you make your schedule, you reap your own rewards. But probably the best thing about network marketing is that it’s going to stretch you, challenge you, and make you grow! If you don’t want to stretch, be challenged, or grow– then it’s probably not for you. If you want to become the best person you can be, it’s a great place to learn how to do that. There is built in support in this industry for people to learn from each other–both in terms of skills needed, and in terms of mindset needed.

The proper mindset is absolutely essential to becoming a successful marketer. This is a mindset of believing in oneself, of persistence, of patience, of diligence, and of service. When you bring that kind of a mindset to your business you can be very successful. If you don’t have that mindset 100% but you think maybe it’s worth cultivating, then jump in! Take a leap of faith. See if you can fly!

There are a gazillion network marketing companies, so you want to choose one that feels good to you, with a product or service that you truly see the value in. You want to choose something you can actually be excited about. And you want to choose something where you can see yourself helping other people. Don’t jump into something impulsively, without doing the proper research. Also, be aware that as you do your research, you will always find something negative about every company out there. A lot of the negative stuff comes from people who have tried and failed. More often than not their failure is due to a lack of proper guidance or because they did not take their endeavor seriously as a business. Don’t get involved in any business without actually speaking to someone! This is a business of connection and communication and it may be a skill you need to develop yourself. The people who are successful are the ones who connect, communicate, and listen to the people they are serving– because truly, this is a service business.

Good luck!

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