Network Marketing – What I’ve Learned After a Year

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photo credit: WebWizzard

I am part of a network marketing company and for the most part, I truly do like the company I'm involved with. They have excellent products in the health and fitness industry and I use them regularly. When I got started with the company, I admit, I was excited. After all, I was now in "business" for myself, right? Well, after about a year and a half of being a network marketer, I've come to some conclusions that I wanted to write about.

Selling

Don't be fooled by how easy it is to start your own business at home, part-time, making your own hours, being your own boss, yadda-yadda stuff. In the end you are selling. If you don't sell, you don't make money. However, selling is a good skill to develop if you plan on owning any type of business, so in this sense, being involved with an MLM can be beneficial.

Recruiting

This is the basis of growing a large network, thus, earning more income and doing less work. In the beginning, you have to hustle if you want to build a large organization. For some people, they achieve this in record time, while others struggle with the process. As for myself, I vowed that I wouldn't pursue my family and friends. I already knew how most people viewed MLM's. I didn't want to be "that guy" that pushed the opportunity on everyone I knew.

However, I got caught up in the possibility of success and figured if other people could build big downlines, so could I. This led to a 90-day challenge started by my upline. In a nutshell, I caved and began reaching out to my friends to consider the opportunity. I felt slimy doing it. No matter how I tried to sugar coat it, convincing myself that I was simply sharing the business with them, it felt awkward. I also felt obligated to expose the opportunity to strangers. Even more awkwardness.

I do give credit to the company in terms of making the recruiting process easier. They provide plenty of tools (dvd presentations and such) that does all of the talking for you. However, it is still your job to follow-up with people. It is a lot of work to convince people to join your network. It is also a lot of work trying to keep people who have signed-up. If they don't make money immediately, they are quick to lose interest and quit.

Is it Really Your Business?

Although most MLM's say you're running your own business, you're really doing all of this work for another company. Consider that you spend a huge amount of time marketing another company and promoting their products. You're helping to build their brand. After reading The Millionaire Fastlane, I realized network marketing is awesome - if you're the one who started the company and control it.

Creating Wealth

Can you get rich in this industry? Short answer: yes. People have become millionaires in network marketing, however, it is not easy and most people never make it.

Did I Give Up on Network Marketing?

Not quite. I don't actively recruit for my downline, although I do get the occasional new sign-up. My focus is on selling the products via the web. I treat it more like another affiliate marketing opportunity than anything else. I am still learning about this industry and I do enjoy the commissions from selling the products. Maybe in the future, I may get back into the recruiting portion. For now, I'll just keep learning and using it as another income stream.

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