Star Builder

Why Take Up Network Marketing

The other day a friend asked me why I joined a network marketing organisation, he pointed out I was a relatively well paid IT consultant, and had already lost a bucket of money running a franchise. Surely I should just be rebuilding my life, and carry on plodding like the rest of us.

Having politely pointed out my reasons to my well meaning friend, I thought it would be good to share them with you. This article sets out in my opinion - Why Network Marketing?

What Are We Trying To Achieve?

Each person has their own why, their own reason for getting into a MLM organisation. Mine were (and still are) relatively simple:

• Financial stability for my family and I
• More free time to spend with family and friends
• Hate the daily commute which wastes so much of my life
• Had enough of long hours and being on-call at weekends
• Ability to pick and choose what I want to do (some people call this retirement - I call it freedom)
• A nice house on the beach in New Zealand

Note in my above list I have not included the Porsche, the millionaires mansion, the cruises, etc. As I said each person will have their own why, and what they want out of life.  Though if these were to come my way, I would not be complaining, and I'm sure once I have the above I will have other things that I want (see the article on setting goals).

What Are The Alternatives To Network Marketing?

Having discussed my why, and already given you the background on my last faux-pas running a franchise that set me and my family back financially more than ten years, you will no doubt understand that I have a challenge on my hand. One that can only be met by earning more than I currently do now.

The choices I face, as many others in my position do, are:

Find A Role That Pays More

Sounds obvious doesn't it, but most of us have improved our earning power several times since we started our careers - so this is entirely feasible. There are however a number of challenges in doing so for me:

• Would need to study more, possibly get additional certifications - which means an investment of a lot more than 5-7 hours per week
• Would need to gain experience in the area, which may mean going backwards to go forwards (i.e. taking a paycut with the goal of getting greater income in the future)
• The changing pace in IT which means that not only do you need to learn new areas, but re-visit those that you have already learned
• Job security, anyone who has been in the IT market over the last decade has seen it expand and contract more than an accordian at a morris dancing convention
• The amount the pay would have to increase by to achieve my goals before I was say 50 and also to provide me with the possibility of a healthy pension is rather large. It would be like going from playing for Plymouth Argyle to Man U - possible but unlikely
• If I want to go on holiday, I don't get paid, that is what is like being a freelance consultant

The thing is I want a passive income, not to have to work longer and harder to keep maintaining the income. So the same holds true about going and getting a second job such as a weekend sales negotiator.

Start A Business

So you have a dream of starting your own business, the problem is that this often takes up a large investment in time and capital. Frequently requiring you to quit your current job, to pursue your dream, which increases pressure on you to succeed in a limited time frame. What's more here are some other things to think about that may bite you, I know it did me:

• Working very long hours, doing everything from sweeping the floor to cleaning the toilets - you can begin to lose sight of what you are trying to achieve
• Staff, managing them can be a complete and utter nightmare. I'll let you in a little secret it is called agency theory, basically it says that anyone you employ will do right by your business so long as it is in their own self-interest
• Customers, bless them, but when running your own business they can take up lots of your time and be rather quite abusive, what's more they don't all pay promptly and often haggle for a better deal
• Suppliers, well they aren't all reliable are they, but now you find yourself caught between them and customers - it's no fun
• Sales and Marketing, well you may need to run your own sales team, and why they are not all snake oil salesman, some are not adverse to bending the truth. And as for marketing, your budget as an SME can quickly get balloon out of control
• All the administrative overhead, receipts, invoices, credit control - it's a nightmare
• Oh yeh, and did I say work-life balance anywhere?

You see, now here's the thing with running your own business, it is hard work and often stressful, and a large proportion either fail or never move much beyond break even. You will need lots of courage and conviction to follow this path, but perhaps more importantly you must know when to pull the plug. With me I carried on living in hope for too long, like burning a £20 note to forge a single £2 coin...

Buy A Franchise

This is much like stating a business, though you have bought into a tried and tested business model, but as they say caveat empator, not all franchises are created equally. Furthermore in effect you have bought on another supplier that enforces rules on you and charges you for the privilege - you have to be sure that what you are being charged for is actually worth the money. In truth my business was a franchise, which in turn only heaped more misery on the demise, after all I played it safe by going down the franchise route, or so I thought.

Things to ask yourself about a franchise and indeed other franchisees and the national master are:

• Are they accredited to the BFA
• What is the investment required, and what is the predicted profit margins, and what are the banks prepared to lend against it
• What is the failure rate of other franchisees that have joined (don't listen to excuses as to why others have failed - they did not follow the business model does not cut it - it's just a sales pitch)
• What is the term of the agreement - anything of five years or under places you under a great risk - making it more difficult for you to resell your business and ultimately giving the power for the franchisor to resell your business from under your feet after the term
• What is the exclusivity of the agreement - can they build another Joe Bloggins Pizza Pie franchise two blocks away (this is a know tactic by franchisors to force you to buy another franchise even though you were doing just fine)
• What is the balance of power in the franchise agreement - many afford the franchisor the power to terminate your agreement for tenuous reasons and resell it from under your feet (have seen it happen)
• How many of those franchisees are really making money, and does this business scale
• Is this something you can generate a passive income from - i.e. take a long holiday and still be earning money or will it grind to a halt

The point here it is like running a standard business, but with the benefits of a proven business model, though there are a number of new risks inherent to franchising. One that I did not highlight though is what would happen if your national master went bust, it does happen you know.

Play The Lottery

I put this in here, because many people do just that, even though the stated odds are less than 1 in 14 million. There are those that say you have got to be in it to win it, and someone has to win - it could be you. Needless to say I have had my flights of fancy when purchasing my ticket for the Euro Millions or our National Lottery. Though in my heart of hearts I know this is unlikely to meet my goals however nice a dream that it is - it is just that.

So feel free to play the lottery, but don't make it your only plan to achieving your why!

Why Network Marketing?

The first key attraction is that with a lot of hard work alongside an existing job, coupled with a small investment, it is possible to earn far in excess of what is possible with all of the above (except the lottery of course). There are many out there who are earning eye watering incomes that allowed them to quit their day job, and concentrate on this alone. And the money is in fact just one of the benefits, making new friends that work hard to help each other is good for the soul.

So here are my reasons for joining a network marketing organisation:

• Fantastic product I would have bought anyway, so why not earn money with it
• Excellent support from the organisation and my team with marketing materials available at heavily subsidised prices
• Simple to understand system and business model
• Power of duplication, meaning that there is not a linear link between earnings and effort. With some things the only way you can earn more is to work more - this is not the case in network marketing, though everyone achieves at different rates there is nothing stopping the small guy from making it to the top
• Can run it alongside my current job
• Can get my partner involved - and it is something we can both get involved together
• Can earn a nice bit of extra income in the short term
• Potential to earn a large amount of money to achieve my goals

If this is not a compelling argument for you to look at a Network Marketing UK opportunity such as this, and pay the price for change then as Tom Hopkins would say... be happy with what you got because that is you'll ever be.

Take the first step today, and register your interest, and myself and other members of the Star Builder team will guide you on your way to achieving your why.