ProfitBrite

Home-Based Businesses Should Be a Team Effort

If everyone in your family is excited about your new business, your chances of success are far greater. When things are good, everyone can celebrate the success, and when things go sour, there will be people around boosting your confidence and thinking about other strategies.

Traditionally, a family-owned business was called a "mom-and-pop" business. This cozy term indicated a small business that the spouses worked together on. Years ago, it was much more common for couples to work together than now, but that trend seems to be changing. Just because we're in a world of high technology and Internet-based businesses doesn't mean we have to lose that "mom-and-pop" mentality that created so many successful small business owners.

Men and women can work as a team, each taking a side of the business that they are comfortable with. If one person likes to write, they can be the ones writing the press releases, blogging, or conducting article marketing. If one is the schmoozer, they can be the one taking care of the downline or the person-to-person aspects of the business.

Once you recognize each others strengths and weaknesses, you can create a division of labor that works for you. Experts say this "separation of duties" is extremely important, not only for the business, but also for the personal relationship.

This team mentality is vital to the success of your Internet marketing business. Not only does working as a team create a better business, it can also create a better personal relationship. Many couples make the decision to go into business together because they found that, after marriage, they hardly saw each other. Working together is one solution to finding more time to spend together.

The number of couples in business together stood at 1.2 million in 2003, and most people believe that number has continued to grow. In fact, about one in five small businesses today are being operated by couples. That number probably doesn't factor in those couples who work at home together in an Internet marketing business.

The couples who work best together understand the family is working toward a common goal and are both 100 percent engaged in the business's success. For home-base businesses to be a real success, it must be a team effort. [http://www.dlboutlet.net/]Click Here For A Proven [http://www.dlboutlet.net/]Home Business To Make Your first $1,000! Some sites claim you'll make $50,000 this month. I say give me $1,000 this week and I'll be happy!

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Home-Based-Businesses-Should-Be-a-Team-Effort&id=38...] Home-Based Businesses Should Be a Team Effort

5 Services a Virtual Assistant Can Provide For Direct Selling Leaders

E-newsletters. Do you struggle to get out an email newsletter to your customers, your monthly recognition report to your team members in a timely fashion? A VA can lend her expertise to setting up a newsletter with timely, relevant information that gets to your customers. This could be a template set up in Constant Contact that can be refreshed with new content for each new edition. This can result in more consistent sales, bookings, leads and referrals. She can also help you recognize your team members' successes on a consistent and regular basis with a team recognition report.

Personal Website Updating. A VA can keep your website content fresh and relevant for your customers and team members. This can include timely news items applicable to your current promotions and programs and online party setup.

Calendar Management. Let your VA manage not only your appointments on your calendar, but also keep track of the deadlines of promotions and programs that are pertinent to your customers and team members. Your VA can use Google Calendar to manage your appointments and deadlines and you have the ability to sync it with Outlook.

Host Packets and Host Services. Give your VA the contents of your host packet. Decide if any or all of it can be sent virtually and what time frame you want her to use when a new party is booked. That email can be followed by a mailing of all non-electronic information. A virtual assistant can also set up reminder phone calls for hosts using an automated service like PhoneVite. She can also provide you with reports from PhoneVite on the number of RSVPs receives and the success rate of each call. Phone calls before the party have been shown to increase both attendance and outside orders.

Team Training Meetings and Tele-Classes. Your VA can help you with team training content for live meetings. This could include flyer, handout and agenda creation. She can also set up tele-classes for your team with all the options you are looking for. This can include emailing your team members with the tele-class information, sending out reminder email messages and any documents that might be needed for the training or tele-class.

Working with a virtual assistant works best when you form a long-term, collaborative partnership. The best VAs are the ones who fully understand your business as much as you do. They are not there for a single project; they see the big picture and can think long-term. They know that when your business is successful, their business is successful. It may be hard to let go of some of your administrative tasks in your business, but the more you can delegate to your VA, the more time you have for the things you love to do and the things you are good at. When you can focus on what you do best, your business life and your personal life becomes more enjoyable.

About the Author: Mary Albright is a Virtual Assistant and Owner of Can Do Virtual Assisting. CanDoVA was formed to support visionary entrepreneurs and small business owners by taking on administrative tasks so they can spend more time doing the things they love and the things they do best. Mary is currently completing a master's level course from AssistU, the organization training the world's best virtual assistants. She is also a certified Social Media Marketing Specialist and has been recognized as a Constant Contact Email Marketing All-Star. To learn more about Mary, visit [http://facebook.com/CanDoVirtualAssisting]http://facebook.com/CanDoVirtualAssisting.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?5-Services-a-Virtual-Assistant-Can-Provide-For-Dire...] 5 Services a Virtual Assistant Can Provide For Direct Selling Leaders

Why Not Work From Home As a Single Parent?

For anyone this may affect, I'm here to tell you that there is another way. What is it? It's Internet Marketing.

If you would like to work from home and make money online, then you need this information. Internet marketing is a great way for you to make money online, right from the comfort of your own home. There are currently companies in the market place that are thriving in the current economic climate.

If you are a single parent or anyone looking for a profitable home based business, then one of these companies could be just the opportunity for you. Some of these companies give you all the tools you require to be successful. They will train from a person with very limited internet and marketing experience to becoming a successful and very competent internet marketer in the shortest time possible.

How Does It Work?
1. You are taught how to market your company along with the products and services they have on offer. Whilst doing this you are also shown how to build a list of targeted buyers. When someone purchases from you and joins the company, you then get a paid and what you will be doing is actually building your own team of people below you. Every time they make a sale, you will get a small cut from any money they make as their sponsor. You will be acting as a coach and mentor to these people, showing them what you have learned and guiding them onto the same route to success they you have followed.

2. When you join the company, you are given over 2000 different products in 88 niches to sell at your leisure. You can sell them for whatever price you decide upon as you will have 100% resale rights to them.

There are many, many benefits for the work-at-home person. If you are s single parent you may be wondering, "How do I get started in such a business or opportunity?" Well, if you have a pc, internet connection and a desk or table to work on, then you are all set to get started making money online with your internet marketing program. Single parents all over the world are doing this.

There are various packages available you can choose to buy in at. These range from $49 to $2995. The range of products and services you have at your disposal will vary depending on which entry level you decide to buy in at.

Imagine the feeling you would have inside when you know you are going into work for the last time because on that day you will be sacking your boss!

If you decide internet marketing is your opportunity to work from home, then take the next step. Do your research because you can achieve your dreams with the help of some of the companies out there. You won't have to go it alone. You will get direction and support and be able to work with a team of internet marketing professionals who truly want to see you succeed. The sky is the limit for you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Until next time

Stephen Walker

Stephen Walker is a Internet Marketer, coach and mentor to his team who no longer trades his time for money but instead chooses to spend his time helping others duplicate success online and achieve their dreams. To find out more about Stephen Walker or the business opportunity you can take the tour here: http://internetwealthtutor.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Not-Work-From-Home-As-a-Single-Parent?&id=3891431] Why Not Work From Home As a Single Parent?

Are You the Perfect Network Marketer Who Won the Hearts of All?

As you probably know that those top producers in our industry and in your company are well like by others even though the top producers are not in their team. What makes them so attractive and won the hearts of all people who eventually join their team?

If you have not realized, there is something to do with integrity, attraction and giving back. Why is that so? Consider the fact that our industry had been plagued by common terms like pyramid, ponzi scheme and many others bad sheep among network marketers.

Now let us look at more in depth on the three factors that stated above. Let's start with integrity.

Integrity

In network marketing, this is the only business that you are not alone. You have a group of positive and like minded people all working together in helping each other to succeed in one way or another.

Therefore, if you do not have integrity or lack of it, you can find yourself drifting away from your team and hardly will you build a team that is capable of helping each other to succeed. Integrity in network marketing simply means that to operate your business in the most ethical and moral way possible and not simply flaming other people in front of your team or other people. This will make you look tiny.

Attraction

You have heard about attraction marketing. Well, if you just omit the word marketing, you have the basic meaning of attraction. It simply means in our industry to brand ourselves and put forth what you know best in helping people who are willing to help themselves to further improve their lifestyle or achieving their objectives in life. In attraction marketing or attraction as a whole, as a networker, one has to be just be themselves and stay down to earth. Your prospect or people who are following you will as time goes by get attracted to you and join your business.

Giving back

This is karma. If you are just starting out and have nothing to give, then you are probably wrong. Everyone on this planet is unique in one way or another. Each of us has something to give back. This can be a skill, knowledge or simply just a consoling message to the other party. If you are new, think how you can help others by using your current skills and knowledge, while some whom are much longer in this industry, you can give back by imparting your skills to your team and empower them with your powerful knowledge or your philosophy. You will see much improvement if done this way.

By now, you probably know that attraction marketing is only one part to your successful network marketing career. So add in two others as stated above and you will be the network marketer that won everybody hearts.

Jeffrey Chew, the [http://www.jeffreychew.net]shoestring network marketer, is an ex-online business consultant turn internet network marketing coach. He have been using advance free marketing online techniques for most of his sites. He now share freely these techniques on his blog to network marketers, home-based business and entrepreneur who wants market their business on a shoestring budget.

For more resources and articles on, personal development, mindset training, advance free online marketing techniques, visit [http://www.jeffreychew.net]http://www.jeffreychew.net.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Are-You-the-Perfect-Network-Marketer-Who-Won-the-He...?&id=3887959] Are You the Perfect Network Marketer Who Won the Hearts of All?

Avon Review - Easy Solution to Financial Freedom?

Avon is one of the longest blooming MLM Companies in this industry with history of more than 120 years. David H. McConnell started it in 1886, when he was just 28 years old. Avon is now the world's largest Direct Selling Company of beauty and beauty-related product. Their sale revenue for 2008 has even reached $10.7 billion, with approximately 42,000 associates globally promoting their products. Avon is also publicly traded on New York Stock Exchange listing.

Their product brands includes:

Avon Color - their flagship cosmetics brand, a variety of color cosmetic products.
Anew - Anti-aging Skincare
Skin So Soft - Bath and Body products
Avon Advance Techniques - Salon quality Hair Product
Avon Wellness - Health and Fitness products
Avon Fragrance - Prestige Fragrance Products
Avon Mark - Beauty Product for Young Women
M - The Men's Catalog - Personal care products for men

Before you become a representative for Avon, first you need to know that there are many competition within Avon as it has over five million Independent representatives worldwide. You will come across many representatives in your district.

Secondly to earn money from commission, you will need to meet a monthly quota in order to earn a reasonable commission on your personal sales. To succeed in Avon would take a great deal of dedication and much marketing or selling skills. You would probably be making many flyers and distributing them to your assigned district; building samples inventory, cards and bags to give out to your prospects. So you would require very careful inventory and cash flow management, as you get more engrossed in this business.

You can also be a team leader and earn Leadership Bonus up to 12% of your team Sales. For this you would be recruiting sale representatives where you will teach them the skills for selling the Avon products. The compensation plan is somewhat similar to that of many MLM companies and it does compensate you well for your hardwork.

So if you are inquiring whether Avon is a valid business opportunity, then the answer is "YES!" They are one of the more qualified, successful and accepted direct selling companies with MLM pay structure. If the business is operated correctly, it can lead to financial accomplishment.

One issue is that Avon does not really train their Leaders on the best strategies to recruit people into the business. They leave a lot of the foundation to "Leaders" who often got disoriented and confused on how to grow the business.

So when you want to grow any MLM company, the most significant thing is to brand yourself as well as the business. This will differentiate you with your competition and position you as a effective representative. If your upline only coaches you with conventional marketing methods such as speaking to friends and family or buying leads, you had better start to evaluate if you are in the right organization. This will almost always lead to disaster as only about 3% of network marketers succeed with these techniques.

You should instead, make a dedication to become skilled at the business and get the best MLM marketing training to be a valuable marketer. Adopting cutting-edge marketing tools like Internet will expose your business to the world and explode the sales volume that your business needs to thrive. Do this and you will start to enjoy this industry tremendously.

So if you really desire to succeed in this business and learn to apply the power of the Internet to explode your business and your income just like I did, then go to the link below to tap in to my Secret Strategies.

The Secret to Successful Branding You can be accessed for free by clicking on [http://jonkoh.com]http://www.jonkoh.com.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Avon-Review---Easy-Solution-to-Financial-Freedom?&id=3894541] Avon Review - Easy Solution to Financial Freedom?

Network Marketing - A Review of Aihu

I usually begin my review with a visit to the company information section or an "about us" page. The day I visited the Aihu website, this tab was not working. Clicking on the "about us" tab led to the front welcome page.

I then looked at the product line of Aihu. I had never heard of the company before and so I wanted to see what they offered. I loved that as soon as I clicked on their products page, all of their products along with prices came up.

I also love that they advertise their products as being green and made for sensitive skin. They use tree oils and other natural ingredients in their products. Their product containers are recyclable which is another plus.

I found several skin care products, anti-stress products, soaps, deodorants, a line of aromatherapy products and finally, a line of household cleaning products.

They are very clear on the site that their products are not tested on animals. This is so important to many people shopping for skin care products.

As I clicked through the various products, I was disappointed to find almost no information on the products. Also, each page has a section that says "you might also like these products" but on page after page that section was empty.

When I visited their "career opportunities" page, I learned that on line sign ups are not available. Instead, you need to download the enrollment forms and fax them to the company.

They offer 30% commission on retail sales. They also offer a team incentive three levels deep.

The start up fee is $99, though the site did not tell me what a new consultant would receive for their $99.

I was left with many questions. If you are considering joining Aihu, I would suggest asking the following questions:

1. Are there catalogs to show the products? I did not see any photos of any catalogs.
2. I did see photos of event show displays. How are the products sold?
3. What do you get for the $99 start up fee?
4. I could not find any distributor websites when I did a web search for Aihu. Can distributors have their own sites?
5. How are distributors paid for their team? Are they paid for sales as low as $20? There was not any type of comp plan that I could find on the corporate site.
6. How old is the company and who owns it? Again, I found very little information on the corporate site.

I am not supporting nor dissuading anyone from joining this company. As I mentioned, there were things I loved and then there some things I questioned. I merely suggest you ask some questions to get the information you need to decide if this is the right opportunity for you.

Audrey Okaneko has been in direct sales since 1983. You can read more of her articles at http://mydirectsales.com or you can [http://www.recipe-barn.com/tupperware-consultant.html]Become a Tupperware Consultant

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Network-Marketing---A-Review-of-Aihu&id=3892735] Network Marketing - A Review of Aihu

How to Lead Your Own Tribe

The Confidence To Lead Home Internet Businesses
Seth Godin the world famous Blogger and best selling author says the popularity of social networking and marketing is based on the concept of tribes. For example on Twitter Users have Followers and we Follow others.

Facebook has Fan Pages other social networks have contacts. The whole model is similar to that of legitimate network marketing and direct sales opportunities. These forms of home based businesses are tribe based. They have members who are essentially on a level however some have been in the tribe longer and built up a following of their own, a mini tribe if you like.

What you need to recognize as a person in one these types of home opportunities is that from the minute you start to market your business you have to adopt a leadership mindset. A key aspect of this is confidence. If you have a lack of confidence then people who you are hoping will join you will pick up on this.

The interesting thing is that people pick up on a lack of confidence over the phone quicker than in a face to face setting. Tests have shown that even a slight falter on key questions can mean your lead will never take your calls again. Alternatively they will string you along whilst looking for other more confident Sponsors.

How To Establish Confidence In Home Internet Businesses

Going back to our tribal analogy, tribes follow the Leaders because they trust them. That trust is conditional as long as the Leader is seen to be making decisions for the good of the tribe.

In the area of home Internet jobs this equates to providing added value to the team. Each person is in business for themselves and accepts the risks that go with that. However they have usually joined a home based business because all the legitimate opportunities stress that being in a team/community will help them to succeed.

Confidence is based on experience and skills. Skills are the basic building blocks. You need to establish and master the basic skills of whatever business you are associated with. So you initial period will be about developing yourself to the point where you feel confident you can explain the benefits of your business to anyone.

Experience comes from failure, so the sooner you get the failures under your belt the better. That means phoning and speaking to any leads you get as soon as you get them. If you wait until you get lots of leads then you have the chance of, 'blowing it' big time. With just a few leads on your list your Sponsor may have time to do a 'three way' conference call. Listen to the way your Sponsor conducts themselves, tone, pitch, when they pause and how they lead the conversation. Make notes.

This means when you do 'fly solo' you will feel more confident. This means you will still be nervous however you will have the tools to help you be confident.

Home Internet Businesses And The Confidence To Get Your Own Tribe
As mentioned above the learning process involves failing. Tribes expect their Leaders to fail occasionally, what marks a real Leader out is how they deal with failure. In my job as a Project Manager I was required to write a Lessons Learned Report at the end of my projects. There is no reason why you avoid this after each lead you communicate with for more than say two contacts.

This could be kept in a small project book, remember to note the things that went well and the things you can improve. After each call or email exchange make a note of these things. Then review your notes on a weekly basis. Make a note of any recurring weaknesses and discuss them with your Mastermind Group or your Sponsor.

In this way you are continually improving, making small corrective changes. Other things to consider are cultural differences. For example a team member of mine is unable to attend certain key training dates for religious reasons. If I was unaware of this I may assume he is uninterested and no longer serious. When I became aware of it we discussed it openly and agreed a way round this. In today's world of Podcasts and Recorded Webinars there is a way around such difficulties. In the end they present themselves as opportunities because other team members unable to attend the live events can also use them.

If you approach challenges is this creative and collaborative way you will gain the trust of your team and be accepted as their Leader.

As the owner of APeel Solutions an Internet Direct Sales Marketing Consultancy I provide work from home careers in home internet businesses as ways to earn extra money. I am a regular Blogger, Expert Ezine Author and have over 20,000 social network connections. I specialize in free to low cost marketing techniques. Visit my [http://APeel-SolutionsBlog.info]Blog for other articles and videos on home Internet businesses.

Andrew Peel

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Lead-Your-Own-Tribe&id=3882556] How to Lead Your Own Tribe

Mary Kay Review - Is the Mary Kay Opportunity the Right Fit For Your Home Business?

Well, I want to get to the point and answer your questions of whether or not the Mary Kay business opportunity is a right fit for your home based business. I'm going to give as much information as possible so that you can make an educated business decision for yourself. I'll be talking about the initial expenses to get started, the compensation plan, and the training you receive if you decide to become a Mary Kay consultant.

Starting Costs & Training
The initial fee to get started with Mary Kay as an independent beauty consultant is $100. You get a starter package for paying the $100 fee. The starter package contains around $200 worth of May Kay Products. These products can be sold, but most of the time they are used as product samples for customers to use at home shows.

Mary Kay offers a pre built web site that is optional. It's actually less expensive than most other businesses that I've reviewed. The first year costs only $25. And every year after that will be $50 a year.

Now of course you buy an inventory of products. You and your sponsor can decide how much you will buy. Keep in mind that the starting costs will increase based on how much Mary Kay products you want to initially purchase to sell to customers.

It's known that in order to remain an active Mary Kay Beauty consultant you have to order a minimum of $200 worth of products every three months. This is roughly $67 dollars per month ($200 divided by 3 months).

Also, they offer something called Silver Wings Scholars which is a free online back office for Mary Kay consultants. There are videos and other training documentation to help people succeed in the Mary Kay business opportunity.

Time Investments
Home shows are held at a customer's house. The customer can invite their friend's to attend these shows. The majority of customers are attained through word of mouth. Some people use social networking sites such as MySpace or FaceBook to connect with people in their local area.

Once a week, a Mary Kay consultant must attend their director's house for training. Consultants can invite guests to come and learn about the product or even join the opportunity. Mary Kay stresses the fact that they don't pressure anyone to join their opportunity or buy their products which is definitely a great thing to know. I can attest to that as I actually talked to a May Kay consultant who did not pressure me at all to make any commitments until I was ready.

As you can see they offer a real support system giving people the opportunity to connect with each other. If you're a person that needs that personal connection in order to be motivated to learn and perform better, then Mary Kay is a good opportunity for you to join.

The Mary Kay Compensation Plan
As a Mary Kay beauty consultant, you receive a 50% discount on their products. For example, if you as a beauty consultant purchased an item for the wholesale price of $25, you can then go and sell it for $50. And of course this profit is what you keep for yourself.

There are different levels of Mary Kay consultants. When you first start out, you are classified as an Independent Beauty Consultant.

You can get to the next level called Senior Consultant when you recruit 1 person onto your team. So now you'll be able to earn a 4% commission on your newly acquired recruit's wholesale orders. So for example if someone in your downline orders $300 worth of Mary Kay products at the wholesale price then you will earn a commission of $12 ($300 multiplied by 4%).

The next level is called Star Recruiter. In order to be promoted to this level you have to sponsor 3 new team members. In addition to being able to make all the commissions at the lower levels, you will now qualify to earn a $50 dollar team building bonus. You qualify for this on your 4th recruit and on any future recruits thereafter. But the additional condition to get the $50 dollar team building bonus is that the new recruit must make a minimum order of at least $600.

So if you're in this position you are going to do everything in your power to make sure your new recruit makes at least a $600 order. You have to ask yourself "Is it going to be worth my time to try to convince someone to make an initial purchase of $600 so that I can get that $50 bonus?" Is this something you don't mind doing? I'm just providing you the facts and asking questions to help you decide if this is the right business opportunity for you.

Once you have 5 recruits under your belt, you will be promoted to Team Leader. So instead of making 4% off any team members order as noted at the Senior Consultant level, you will now be able to make between 9% to 13% off any orders in your downline. You only qualify for the 13% if you make a personal order of at least $600.

Now the next level you can get to is called a Future Director. You achieve this level when you have 8 people in your downline that you personally recruited yourself. When becoming a Future Director you can apply to get to the Director level. You actually have to make it known to Mary Kay that you're applying to this level. Once you notify them of your goals, you will then have 4 months to have 30 active people on your team. You as a team leader only have to personally sponsor 8 active members. But your team can take care of the remaining 22 if you want. It's totally up to you how you're going to accomplish this goal of Director status. Also, another condition to qualify for Director level is that your team must earn at least $16,000 worth of wholesale orders.

Your reward for becoming a Director is that you'll get 9% to 13% commissions off orders of any of your 30 or more representatives below you that helped you achieve Director level status.

Now another important fact to consider is that you can be demoted no matter what level you're at in the Mary Kay business. For example if you're at Team Leader status with 5 recruits under you and any one of those recruits decides to stop ordering products, then you'll get demoted to the previous level, which is Star Recruiter. So you can see it is very important to get to know your teammates and continually provide effective training so that they can consistently perform well for themselves and for you.

Conclusion
Mary Kay offers quality products to their clientele backed by a legitimate business opportunity. They are filled with very personable distributors that are willing to give you answers in a no pressure environment. If you're the type of person that truly loves the product then promoting it will be easy.

However, one of the drawbacks that the Mary Kay business opportunity has is their old way of marketing. They give home shows and get customer leads through mostly word of mouth. So you are limited geographically to the number of people you can sell your products to because it's known that the majority of their sales are through word of mouth.

Now it's known that some of their consultants have pre-built web sites. But they aren't being taught how to leverage the internet and use effective marketing techniques to bring people to their web site to purchase items.

It's known that their training does not emphasize new effective marketing concepts such as using advertising campaigns with pay per click, writing articles, doing videos, and implementing a funded proposal. There is no way to create an automated marketing machine so that you can have a system on auto pilot. Instead Mary Kay consultants have to drive to peoples houses to give presentations to sell products and possibly recruit new representatives.

Some may see this as a great thing because they get to connect with people by driving to different areas to put on home shows. Others will think that this method of marketing defeats the purpose of working at the comfort of their own home. It's really up to you to decide if this type of business model fits your style. My job is to provide you with the facts so that you can make an informed decision determining whether or not this Mary Kay opportunity is the right fit for your home based business.

Brandon R. Drake is a professional marketer and an [http://www.honestwealthbuilder.com]online marketing coach that helps serious entrepreneurs increase their skills by teaching effective methods to leverage the power of the internet and utilize smart marketing techniques to be successful in network marketing.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Mary-Kay-Review---Is-the-Mary-Kay-Opportunity-the-R...?&id=3880421] Mary Kay Review - Is the Mary Kay Opportunity the Right Fit For Your Home Business?

Tastefully Simple Review - Is the Tastefully Simple Opportunity the Right Fit For Your Home Business

Tastefully Simple founded in 1995 is a company based in Alexandria, Minnesota that offers a wide array of gourmet foods from appetizers, main courses, and even desserts. They also sell recipe books. They offer standard foods throughout the year, but they have seasonal menus too so that there is variety for their customers. Their goal is to provide easy to prepare dishes for those people who are busy and would like to spend more time with family or friends rather spending their time in the kitchen.

Tastefully Simple is a legitimate business that abides by high integrity standards. They are a member of the DSA which stands for the Direct Selling Association. Every member in this company pledges to abide by high integrity standards and procedures as a condition of admission into the DSA. Also, they've been a BBB accredited business since December of 2004 and have a BBB rating of an A+.

Starting Costs & Training

To start as a Tastefully Simple consultant, all you have to do is buy the Business Blast off Kit for $170. And if you can't afford the $170 up front, you can make 3 payments to pay it off. The kit contains enough material for 4 taste testing parties. The kit includes party food kits, training materials, display products, food samples, training DVD videos, training audio, catalogs, and client order forms.

If the initial start up fee of $170 is too high there is another option called the Just a Taste Business Kit for $89. However, there is no payment plan for this option as you have to pay up front. This less inexpensive kit is almost the same except you get enough material for only 2 taste testing parties as opposed to the 4 taste testing parties with the Business Blast Off Kit.

An optional expense for a Tastefully Simple consultant is the web site. It costs $10.95 per month. Also, if you want your web sites to be able accept online payments; Tastefully Simple requires that you purchase a pro pay premium account. This is a credit card processor that costs $29.95 per year.

There are many ways to get trained. One is through the video and audio training received with your starter kit. Also, they have a back office where there is additional professional development. The good thing about this is that the training in their back office is self paced. You also are able to participate in conference calls with people in your position and attend webinars to ask any questions that need to be solved.

Time Investments

Taste testing parties are where consultants get their customers. It is considered the core of their business. These parties are held at a customer's house. The customer invites their friends to attend these taste testing parties while the Tastefully Simple consultant will promote their products by allowing people to obviously taste the foods to see if they are interested in buying more. Also, these parties are a way for consultants to recruit potential people to join their opportunity and also a way to connect with other people to see if they'd like to host a taste testing party at a later date. So you can see how a consultant's customers are mainly attained through word of mouth.

An example of how a taste testing party works:

1. When a customer decides to host a taste testing party, the consultant will give the client a food kit. It's up to the customer to prepare the food kit and get any additional items at the grocery store to prepare the food for the tasting party.
2. The Tastefully Simple consultant shows up before the party starts. The consultant will bring additional samples for people to taste. Because some counties don't allow the transportation of prepared food, it's recommended that Tastefully Simple consultants only bring food items that can be easily opened and then consumed. The company has a list of food items that can be transported to a host party so that you are in line with the rules.

The Tastefully Simple Compensation Plan

As a Tastefully Simple consultant, you earn a 30% commission on sales. And because your food items are consumable, you will have a lot of return customers coming back to you to buy more food items or even wanting to buy or even sample additional food items from you.

When your customers want to buy additional items, Tastefully Simple provides you with a back office so that you can see your client's order history. As a consultant you can offer recommendations of other foods based on what they've ordered in the past.

Like other MLM businesses each business has their naming standards for each level of consultant. For Tastefully Simple, the first level is called Consultant. The second level is called Senior Consultant and in order to be a Senior Consultant you have to recruit 1 active member to join your team. An active team member is a person that makes at least $400 in sales in a calendar quarter. You too must reach this minimum sales amount to be considered a Senior Consultant.

The third level is called a Team Leader. At this level you must have 3 active members on your team. All of them including you must also have sales of at least $400 per calendar quarter for you to maintain the Team Leader status. Once you and your team have reached these conditions you will qualify for 5% of you team's sales.

Now there are more levels that you can get to with Tastefully Simple. All these additional levels depend on such factors as your sales performance, your team's sales performance, and the number of active members recruited on your team.

Conclusion

There is no questioning the legitimacy of Tastefully Simple's business. They offer high quality food products at reasonable prices. You can definitely succeed in this business.

In order to succeed with this MLM business, you have to be a proven leader or learn how to be a proven leader that knows how to create a high performing team. You want to be a person that is motivating. And the absolute most important thing you must have is a training system that will duplicate success. If you've established an effective training system that lays out exactly how to be successful, then your teammates success will translate into your success with the Tastefully Simple business.

Now if you're a person that likes being able to taste test foods with others, socialize in a very comfortable environment, and doesn't mind driving to people's homes to promote your products, then I would recommend the Tastefully Simple opportunity to you. However, if you're a person that truly wants to extend your customer base beyond your local area, learn how to leverage the power of the internet, and learn the latest smart online marketing techniques, then Tastefully Simple would not be your choice.

As you can see Tastefully Simple gets their customers primary based on word of mouth through home shows. Home shows are the core of each consultant's business. So with this business you are restricted in your market geographically. It all depends on how far you are willing to drive to go to a tasting party and promote your business. Also, keep in the mind that the clients that you get can also be customers that will continually come back to you for more food to purchase.

I tell everyone the same thing. Before committing to the first business opportunity that comes your way, make sure you look at other options. Make sure to get the facts regarding compensation and training and don't get caught up with the hype and all the testimonial videos. It's best to call distributors and call the corporate offices as the people you talk to help you form an opinion of the companies ethical standards. I can tell you that I was impressed with their corporate office support in answering compensation and training questions. But don't take my word for it. Make sure to take initiative to talk to others and ask questions as this is a very important decision for you and your family.

Brandon R. Drake is a professional marketer and an [http://www.honestwealthbuilder.com]online marketing coach that helps serious entrepreneurs increase their skills by teaching effective methods to leverage the power of the internet and utilize smart marketing techniques to be successful in network marketing.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Tastefully-Simple-Review---Is-the-Tastefully-Simple...] Tastefully Simple Review - Is the Tastefully Simple Opportunity the Right Fit For Your Home Business

MLM Coaching is No Walk in the Park When Dealing With Personalities

If you have very little experience dealing with a multitude of personalities that may not always fall in line with yours, the time to learn is now. The sooner you are able to identify and understand a mixture of personalities, the sooner your abilities to maximize results will occur.

Personalities are like arm pits... we all have them. They are all unique in one way shape or form.

Last night was spent tossing and turning with a thought running around in my head about how people do different things based on their personality. Hold on to your hat. It is a cop out. It is like oh, gee, I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. It is just me, it is my personality.

Here's the deal. We all have choices and the choices we make defines us! We can illuminate any personality we choose too. We can be whoever we want to be. We can even put different personality hats on whenever the need arises.

There are 4 dominant personalities. They are Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy and Phlegmatic.

Sanguine

These are the fun loving people. They are the popular ones who are adventurous, talkative, expressive, have a great sense of humour and can't help but be the life of the party. They are often considered creative and great at making initial contacts.

Choleric

Ok. In the most part, this is me.

They are risk takers who love a challenge. A choleric tends to be a fast thinker who is loyal, likes to take charge and enjoys leadership roles. Motivating people to action, instructing, and controlling job activities are part and parcel.

Melancholy

They are the searchers of perfection. These people are the thinkers. They tend to be analytical, purposeful, sensitive, serious and well organized.

Love details, love numbers and generally confine themselves to a smaller group of friends.

Phlegmatic

Phlegmatic people can be described as someone who is calm, soft and cool, friendly, well balanced, good listeners and usually have many friends.

Usually indecisive people but loyal support people within a team.

These are the natural personalities that are programmed into a person when he or she is born, true.

And yes, this personality stays with you for your entire life.

However, if you are prepared to pay the price you can learn to develop the other personality types as well. It is called a learned personality. It requires a conscious effort to obtain rather than something that one has been given naturally. It does not come easily but then again, nor does success.

Your personality (in fact YOU) is moulded by your values, your paradigms, your beliefs; your desires and your inner soul with each component playing a significant role in your learned personality. You are the conductor of your own orchestra and the tunes that are played come from the decisions you have made and not from something you have no control over.

As a former golf professional, my thoughts and attitudes formulated an aggressive and competitive personality that was mentally prepared for a sometimes not so subtle risk and reward strategy.

The key was to openly accept the consequences of my actions and be aware that the fallout if any or bad results had been accepted as part of who I am. But that was golf.

As a senior coach for sporting teams, the consequences of my thoughts and actions were no longer the same. There were other people involved.

Thank goodness for learned personalities!

Sponsors, team members, investors and supporters were just a few of the other bodies that had vested interests in the outcome. I was no longer alone. The impact of decisions and actions are now felt on a much larger scale.

On one hand you may want to risk the entire kitchen sink by trying to hit a golf ball 300 yards over water to an island green which would be fine if that was your personality! Alternatively, personal glory may well take a back seat to the needs of your "team" members. It depends on what matters the most.

The real glory now comes from team results. Coaches live and die by them! But that's sport!

Remember. There is no "I" in the word team!

One of the invaluable skills when coaching a team is to learn, understand and appreciate the incredible and complex mix of personalities that you may be coaching. The role of the coach is to provide an environment whereby every single individual person is given the chance to be the absolute best they can.

The synergy and energy created by bringing the best out of individuals who are driven by team results above their own is simply explosive.

There is a great book out there for leaders looking to understand personalities and it's called Personality Plus by Florence Littauer. Those who really have a genuine desire to know more about themselves and improve upon their personal and professional lives will get great value out of this best seller. It highlights the aspect of how personality plays its part in every human-to-human interaction.

When you fully understand your own strengths and weaknesses along with the personalities of those around you, you will begin to realise that they are all different with varying wants and needs.

They have a wide range of "hot buttons" and things that motivate them so it will come as no surprise that treating all people the same is fraught with danger.

If the world was full of stereo typed personalities it would be a boring existence to say the least!

Coaching is either a passion you enjoy or a reluctant role you hope will lead to bigger and better things. [http://workwithpetebennett.com/mlm-coaching-is-no-walk-in-the-park]MLM Coaching is like all group coaching enviroments where your ability to deal with different personalities will either make you or break you.

If you want to learn more from some of the leading coaches in this industry, pop over and say hello at [http://www.mlmstrokeoffortune.com]MLM Stroke Of Fortune as we continue to develop the leaders of tomorrow.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?MLM-Coaching-is-No-Walk-in-the-Park-When-Dealing-Wi...] MLM Coaching is No Walk in the Park When Dealing With Personalities