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MLM CHECKLIST - Internet Vs Network Marketing

I speak to a lot of people who call me asking about the mentoring program I participate in. Most are unaware of what it takes to make money online so they are wisely seeking help.

So far so good. The trouble comes with their preconceived ideas - some call them dreams - of how easy it will be to create wealth.

One of the first things I ask is if they know the difference between Internet Marketing and Network Marketing.

Sad to say, most don't. So in a nutshell this is it:

Internet Marketing is most often a job offering no residual income. Network Marketing is a business chosen because of the prospect of residual or royalty income.

Now of course there's much more to it, and we'll go into some of it here, but that's a good place to head out from when exploring a home-based business opportunity.

A while ago I read a book on how to improve the skill of thinking. (Yup, it's a skill so it can be sharpened.) The author, Edward DeBono, offered this: "Perception is by far the most important part of thinking. Perception is how we look at the world, what things we take into account, how we structure the world."

If our perception is limited it doesn't really matter how perfect our logic is. Flawless logic with limited perception still gives an incorrect answer or a faulty conclusion.

One of the fundamental thinking tools DeBono introduced was PMI, an acronym for Plus, Minus and Interesting. The beauty of this tool is how simple it works while yielding a broad point of view not designed to back up an opinion already formed. That particular practice is what DeBono calls the "intelligence trap", spending all your intellectual capital on supporting an already existing position or opinion rather than thinking it through and arriving at the best possible one.

PMI is an "attention-directing tool" where the thinker intentionally directs attention first towards the problem's Plus points, then the Minus points and finally the Interesting points. This is done deliberately and with discipline, taking all of 2-3 minutes.

Let us apply PMI to the question of Internet or Network Marketing. The lists here will not cover every feature of either.

First the Plus Points of Internet Marketing.

One can:
� make "lots" of money
� work from home in PJs or sweats
� be "anonymous" behind the computer's monitor

Now the Minus Points:
� there is a learning curve (HUGE if starting out with limited or no computer skills)
� the time investment is equally considerable
� the money investment - websites, ad tracking, autoresponders, advertising, leads, outsourcing, etc. - can be crippling
� basically you have a job since as an affiliate you'll own nothing, dependent on the success of others and their continuing to stay in business
� you will need many, many affiliate programs to make any kind of a reasonable income and the time to manage them all

Finally the Interesting Points:
� you'll learn a lot about technology
� you'll learn a lot about human behavior
� you'll attract lots of help from Internet Gurus looking for the starry-eyed newbie and offering programs to accelerate your success

Provided you have the time and don't need to make money NOW to pay some bills, AND provided you love to Learn, Internet Marketing can be fascinating. The systems and techniques and gadgets available are challenging and quite remarkable.

Now let's look at Network Marketing.

The Plus Points:
� one can make "lots" of money with the prospect of passive or royalty income
� one can work from home in PJs or sweats
� one owns a real business with a retailable product or service
� the money investment is minimal

The Minus Points:
� there is a learning curve (skills sets are required for success)
� there is a time investment
� you will have to really talk to people who will often tell you "No thanks"

Now the Interesting Points:
� you'll learn a lot about human behavior
� you'll attract lots of help from Internet Gurus looking for the starry-eyed newbie and offering programs to accelerate your success
� you'll meet and make friends with many, many people both online and in person

Once again these PMI lists were not meant to be exhaustive but to open your thinking about the differences between these two kinds of Marketing.

One last thing. Network Marketers, the good ones anyway, selectively use some pieces of what Internet Marketing is to generate their own leads. As a friend likes to say, "Much of what Internet marketers do can be useful to us but mostly we save failed and frustrated Internet marketers when they've finally had enough."

"If you want to do such things as ClickBank, then you can get a lot of what you are going to need to know from what we teach but if you have no idea what that stuff is when you see it in our training, well, then you honestly have no business doing Internet marketing."

Your key to success online is to FOCUS on one business. Do not do multiple businesses or affiliate programs. After all, a dog can't chase more than one rabbit at a time.

Another key is to develop your own critical thinking. Develop the ability to perceive the networking industry, companies, products & services, and compensation plans with a broad scan. Get the tools necessary to furnish your mind with some "executive" concepts so that you can instruct your mind to work as you wish. Get Personalized, Clickable Mentoring, designed for your needs. Get it for free here starting with this manual. http://most-valuable-networking-help.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?MLM-CHECKLIST---Internet-Vs-Network-Marketing&id=42...] MLM CHECKLIST - Internet Vs Network Marketing

Why Start a Home Based Network Marketing Business?

Why do we get involved in this crazy business of Network Marketing...also commonly referred to as Direct Sales or MLM (Multi Level Marketing)? The answer is simple...because we want to have complete control of our lives! Both personally and financially. We would rather do what we want when we want to rather than be tied to a desk or office every day. We'd rather be with our families spending quality time together. It's easy and inexpensive to start a network marketing business so why not, right? There's a ton of MLM businesses telling you how you can make a ridiculous amount of money and you only have to work 10 minutes a day. Wow!

The idea of starting a network marketing business is great but, unfortunately most people who get involved don't make any money. There's a 95-97% failure rate, according to industry statistics. This helps to give the industry a bad name. People who fail blame their lack of success on the company they join...they call the industry or their company a "scam"...and they quit. And then the tell their friends about their bad experience.

The truth of the matter is that network marketing is a legitimate industry (not all businesses in network marketing are legitimate so you do need to do your due diligence) currently endorsed by such giants of industry as Donald Trump and Warren Buffet among others. It's a business where the "average" person can create massive wealth in a relatively short period of time and become self-employed without incurring all of the start-up costs associated with starting a business such as a franchise, restaurant, bar, etc.

Network Marketing, as we know it today, has changed. The days of bugging people in shopping malls, putting fliers on cars, annoying your friends and family, and going to rah-rah meetings in hotel conference rooms are gone, thankfully. Enter the internet. If you own a computer you can be in business!

Now, in our current economy, there are a lot of people looking for a way to either make additional income from home to help them just get by, or to replace a salary due to job loss, or to supplement their retirement income. I've heard upwards of 1,000,000 people per month are searching to start a business online. That's a lot of people! The sad part is that most of them will fail. They will fail primarily due to lack of effort - they are either lazy or they expend their effort in the wrong places because they don't know any better. An unfortunate truth is that most adults do not continue to educate themselves throughout their lives. You know the saying..."You can't teach an old dog new tricks" (luckily this isn't true)!

To be successful in online network marketing, it is imperative to educate yourself about marketing. Most people can network to a certain degree, but most people do not know how to market. People are not born with an innate knowledge of website optimization, generating free leads from Google, how to run an effective Pay Per Click campaign, how to build an opt-in list, etc. In fact, you probably wouldn't even know what these terms mean if you are not already doing internet marketing! Our kids' kids may be born with this knowledge but we weren't!

You also have to be ready to work. Yup...I said a bad 4 letter word! Both in acquiring knowledge and in marketing your business. You need to learn how to market effectively and then you need to apply your knowledge. The idea of making gads of money with no effort "on auto-pilot" in just a few minutes a day is a myth. The idea of making money without recruiting (just from spillover in matrix programs) is also hogwash. At some point, your business can virtually be put on auto-pilot but not when you are starting out and don't have a proven system in place.

You will need to recruit other network marketers into your business consistently by generating a daily flow of home based business leads...and you will need to work to keep them motivated and help to ensure their success so they remain in your business. You also need to ensure that they are using the same system you are to ensure duplicatable results. This is the challenge.

Running a successful home based network marketing business may be the perfect option for you if you have an entrepreneurial drive and are willing to both learn and work. Just be sure to not believe the marketing hype of some companies and partner with a mentor who can help you every step of the way. This is one of the most important, yet overlooked, aspects of starting a home-based business.

Steve Hawk is a Network Marketing Leader, Success Coach and Entrepreneur. He specializes in Lead Generation and Business Building Strategies that help the network marketer with their online marketing efforts. He works to help others create the home based business lifestyle!

You can learn more about Steve by visiting his personal blog at [http://whoisstevehawk.com]http://whoisstevehawk.com. To learn how you can improve your online marketing results, please visit [http://www.7figuremlmsuccess.com]http://www.7figuremlmsuccess.com.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Start-a-Home-Based-Network-Marketing-Business?&id=4014926] Why Start a Home Based Network Marketing Business?

The 411 on Passive Income Opportunities

I'm not talking about taking a week's paid vacation either. I'm talking about being able to do this whenever you want and yes, your income still keeps coming in. This is what we all want right?

Do you have access to a passive income opportunity?

It used to be that in order to have passive income you had to own a business, real estate or some sort of fund that paid you on a regular basis. Think about Donald Trump. He has a TON of passive income. Every single month people have to pay their rent for being in his properties. Or, think of the person who owns your local McDonalds. This person too has passive income coming in every month. Every time you go buy a Big Mac you have just lined their pockets.

Now, the draw backs of the previous two examples are the amount of Capital required to get started with either of these opportunities. Even inexpensive real estate 'aint cheap. And a McDonalds...be prepared to throw down close to $1 Million!!

Yup, it's Gonna Cost You $1 Million..

to own the McDonalds. Did that just take you out of the running for a passive Income Opportunity? NO WAY!! It's easier now than ever for you to get involved with an opportunity that will produce MASSIVE amounts of passive income for you.

In fact, some of the MOST PROFITABLE passive income opportunities will cost you no more than $20k and as cheap as $2k. Can you believe that? An chance for you to plug in to a Passive income opportunity that will pay you whether you go to work or not for less than 5% of the McDonalds.

That's what I'm talking about! Get involved, get set up, do the work once and get paid for LIFE! Some of the most successful people out there, and I'm talking top 1% of the tax bracket, are utilizing a passive income opportunity just like this. You know what the most exciting part of this is....

This Same Opportunity is Available to YOU!

Today is the day you stop "thinking about it" and start acting on it. If you are not living the Life you want and making the amount of money you want, you deserve to be introduced to how great life and business can be. Life doesn't have to be a grind and business doesn't have to run your life.

There is a better way. All you have to do is decide! I know you will, and I can't wait to see you blossom!

Dave Greenlee is a leader in Direct Sales and is always looking to help educate those looking for Success. Some have even said he's a Jedi Knight! Okay, so nobody really said that, but he's pretty cool nonetheless. To learn more and have the chance to work directly with Dave, go to... http://www.davegreenlee.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-411-on-Passive-Income-Opportunities&id=3891148] The 411 on Passive Income Opportunities

Do Not Let Your Current Desperation Cause You to Spend Your Last Dollar - Stop, Relax

Quit it. Quit taking chances on $17 promises. Just for chuckles and at the request of a friend, I have spent the last few days working through several offers in order to see what was what and whether there was any value whatsoever and, sad to say, there is very little. One of the core purposes of my writings is to let you know what works; what I have found to be legitimate and also what is absolutely hogwash. This means in addition to things I know are working, such as a good quality health and beauty product based business that builds repeat business by design, I also have to report on what does not work.

One fellow has a new twist and I decided to play. He says if I do everything he says to do in his newsletter everyday, I will make $1,000 in 30 days. We shall see. I mean, he could be right. I was certain there would be an upsell going in. He did not disappoint. If his steps make me a grand in 30 days, I will recommend him to you and show you the check. No, I do not expect to have to show you that check.

Go to work if you have a job. If you do not, find one. Be frugal, save a little money for emergencies, be practical. You did not get here in a day and you won't get out in a day. Some folks, more than a few, have managed to have significant money coming in after 90 days. You are going to need a little money for operating expenses as you promote your affiliate site, right? You have to generate leads, do you not? There are ways to do this; this is a business; business means you have costs.

Scenario: You are barely able to meet your needs needs from your paycheck. Creditor after creditor is breathing down your neck. You have $25 in the bank until you get paid on Thursday - you with me? Hard freaking times indeed we are talking here. You are out on the web looking for some help and voila! a by gumption- GAH-ron-TEED program for $17.00!

That is it! $17.00 measly little old dollars, not even the price of Chinese for two folks from a decent hole in the wall place. You think about it. Naaaah. You know it probably crap. Still, it might be for real. Maybe. You putter around for the next hour, rereading and rereading and rereading. Hope begins to grow. Finally you cannot help yourself, you whip out your credit card, enter the number and what is the very first thing on the welcome page? Yup...if you REALLY want to be successful, you need THIS!

...whatever this may be. For another $79 you can have it, too! (or $39, or $197 or whatever.)You are burning a little around the ears right now, mostly because you are feeling like Ricky Ricardo when his steering wheel was stolen and the thief was trying to sell it back to him. It said he would show me everything, did it not? Yes, it did. You are not crazy. You are wrapped in the moth, funnel cloud, two and a half gainer upselling system. No, you say, then again, hit cancel to again become subject to the next discounted price.

Please do not fall for it when you are dead broke. Admittedly, some of these systems will work if you have some operating capital. If you do not, you are killing yourself and your spirit by one disappointing bad purchasing decision at a time. Besides, I know for a fact if you stand your ground long enough they will get the price of the next sell right. But again, you still have to have operating money to make it work.

Now, I am all for working from home. I want it again so bad I am hitting the sack a lot of times at midnight and getting back up at 2AM. Why? Because this is not easy. Were it easy, it would not be possible for folks to earn $100,000 a year doing it. The difficulty is what makes it worth the juice. If it were not for the fact that I have an awesome job, I would already be working from home but my goal is to have my online business matching a multiple of my job.

I am here to help you. I don't want your last dime because if I take you last dime, you will have nothing with which to work your business. This is called stupid and counterproductive. You will get frustrated and my name will be mud and if you have been paying attention you know that is not what I want. If it sounds too good to be true, it might be, but not always. Keep a wary eye on the lookout is all I am saying.

Unlike MLM or network marketing, in order to get started, really started, in affiliate marketing on some kind of fast track, you are going to have to spend some money and even then you are talking a crap shoot. The best programs I have seen out there from a professional standpoint and what they give you are going to cost you a $1,000.00, period. There may be some programs out there that you can get into and get started but do you really have the time to try to figure out what they are not telling you in the $17 programs? I mean, sure, you will get some value, perhaps even enough to make your money back, but this is not going to be a breakout program like an MLM business that sells a consumable product that actually has a demonstrated benefit and can indeed be started for less than $500 in most cases. Several good ones can be started for less that $50.00. Lord knows if you are living hand to mouth you probably are not getting proper nutrition anyways. Being involved in a health based business will probably help you achieve better nutrition as a side benefit.

As for the freebies? Get all you can get and read them. They have value. They are designed to get you on the track to spend money in order to make money. Anything here that is free is designed to help you get started. I recommend them and give them away because in my opinion I believe they will help you get started. You are going to need to dig in and go to your gutcheck and start putting together some financial resources in order to prime the pump.

These things may not be what you want to hear. Some master marketers may find this article infuriating. Everything I have written here is true and based on my experiences since 1995 when I started my own Internet Service Provider. I don't have a problem with the concept of upselling, but when you tell someone you are giving them everything for $17 and then try to upsell them to a $77 dollar product have you not just repudiated your own words? Tell them you are giving them very basic, limited resources and sell it. Any less disclosure on such a thing is not how I would want to run my business.

There are four main ways to become a millionaire in the USA. They are:

Work for Microsoft. As I understand it, Microsoft has created some 3,300 millionaires.
Work with a network marketing company. To date, this method has created some 2,700 cash flow millionaires and outright millionaires. These numbers will surpass Microsoft sometime. Will you be one of them?
Own a dry cleaning business. Yes, sir. A dry cleaning business has that most beautiful of words in the capitalistic world built right into it. Those words are repeat business. Last I heard the number was somewhere around 1500 or so.
Pharmaceutical sales. Yep. I admit I don't know any further details because calling on doctor's offices holds no appeal to me.

A $17.00 act of desperation is not going to get you rolling in ANY of these fields. So, get hold of yourself, start putting back what you can, READ (I have a list, get them from the library, email me and I will provide it free) and relax. If you have a spouse talk to her or him. Discuss what you want to try to do and what changes can be made to create the resources to pay for getting started. Top Ramen noodles are good and will kill the beast until you can afford better. I know this from personal experience.

Visit me at my Earthtiger Systems' Blog, [http://earthtiger.info]http://earthtiger.info, where I review business issues, working from home both as a contractor or in business for yourself, and various resources to speed you on in your efforts.

Earthtiger Systems, In Search of Rearden Steel Quality

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that the author of this post has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Do-Not-Let-Your-Current-Desperation-Cause-You-to-Sp...,-Relax&id=3770018] Do Not Let Your Current Desperation Cause You to Spend Your Last Dollar - Stop, Relax

Pros and Cons For Selling a Home Based Business on the Internet - Realistic Marketing Expectations

You just might have a winner.

But, hold on a minute there Sparky.

Before you spend anymore time, money, or get your expectations in a place that may not be realistic, consider this:

There are services and products that will fail on the internet.
Peers of yours will confirm or deny you possible or not possible success.
Your first year net income will be negligible or $0.00, probably a loss for practically any website.
If you are not clear on the risks of putting up a website or marketing your current site, do your self a favor and bail out now.

Listen, you don't have to have a MBA or a financial advisor to understand a few common sense rules of doing commerce on the internet that a guerrilla search engine marketing professional like me has discovered from years of helping small businesses and professionals be successful.

First, if you are an artist, painter, musician, muralist, caricaturist and like. Save your money don't put up a site unless:

You are nationally known.
You need a business card website where prospects are directed to, that don't find you "organically" on the left side of Google with a search term like, "charcoal artists You'll never find Rachael Tan in the top 10, you will find at #1 JD Hillberry. For openers, he has a PageRank of 2 and 1378 backlinks. This guy is highly optimized too.

If you make charcoal drawings of people's pets and think that because you're good or mediocre, you can market that concept internationally on the World Wide Web, it cannot be done. You will waste your time and money. Find other venues for success, yes - actually do some work rather depend upon the "easy way out" by putting up a website thinking that people are going to Google your talent. Use banner ads, or flyers on car windows, local trade shows, and going to your local pet shops and leaving a point of purchase display and cut the owner in for 25%.

A website, hosting, design, search engine optimization is going to cost a minimum of about $500.00 to $2000.00 on the cheap to modestly well done. And the time investment? Better to make your caricatures in front of people than the net.

Forget affiliation sties. They won't rank well, and there is no such thing a passive income selling consumer electronics on a good looking website where you make 30% or less on a flat screen TV. Wal-Mart, Amazon and other online or local brick and mortar stores are going to beat you every time.

Now here are some examples of what does work.

Local services like Plumbers, Iron Gate installer/designers.
Local Professionals like Saxxon Archives that shreds paper in the Palm Beach area of Florida.
National specialized niche services like Clergy Tax that provides accounting and tax services to Churches.
Here's an idea for you. Set up a niche store that will work and a SEO/SEM can get you to the top five in about 1 year. It's a plus sized lingerie online store. Yup, a money maker waiting for a clever entrepreneur to set up a drop ship site.

There are tens of thousands of other successful sites on the internet. Make sure you run your ideas by a internet marketing expert before you spend a lot of money. Oh, and don't think AdWords is the solution. 80% of my clients have been drained of their marketing resources with poor ROI.

To learn more about guerrilla search engine marketing methods visit [http://rank12345.com/]http://rank12345.com/.

Email the author [mailto:rob@robwallace.net]rob@robwallace.net.

Rob Wallace has provided a wide variety of internet services over a 12 year career. Website design, conventional search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and affordable guerrilla style search engine marketing.

More information about Rob Wallace can be found here: [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rob-wallace/15/840/36b/]http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rob-wallace/15/840/36b/.

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