While there are a large number of Network Marketers that have figured out the importance of having your own MLM blog there are countless others that do not understand just how essential this tool is in building their MLM business.

A properly configured WordPress blog will give you a very powerful tool for generating new leads for your MLM business, creating traffic for affiliate programs, building relationships with potential prospects and/or other potential business partners. Please take note that I specifically stated that all of the above can be accomplished via a “properly configured” WordPress blog.

For starters, having your own domain name and having a professional installation of your WordPress blog is a key to your long term success. There is no other blogging system that gives you the number of money making features that are available from WordPress.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see people make day after day is setting up their blog with one of the FREE blogging services that are available. First and foremost the main reason people select a free blogging service is that they don’t have the technical skills to do an installation (not to mention that many other tweaks and setup steps involved) to properly setup and configure WordPress.

The sad truth is that when using one of the FREE blogging services you are immediately putting yourself at a disadvantage over your competition that has a hosted version of WordPress to build their MLM business. PLEASE – Avoid the free platform and go for a WordPress blog hosted on your own account and your own domain name.

Once your WordPress blog is installed and ready for you to start with the variety of modifications that are available to you that allow you make your WordPress blog uniquely yours, there are still a host of decisions that need to be made.

At the top of your list should be deciding which plugins are essential for your MLM WordPress blog. While many of the plugins are just nice utilities that you can do without, there are others that are VERY important in helping with things like generating sitemaps for the search engines or helping you to make your blog more SEO friendly.

Just a few of the plugins that I consider a must have are:

Askimet – Spam has become rampant in blog comments. One of the best protections that you can have against having to deal with hundreds of spam comments is to make sure that the Askimet plugin is installed and active or your MLM blog.

All in One SEO Pack – If you think that search engine optimization (SEO) is a real pain, then you will love this plugin. This plugin will help you to optimize each page and post on your MLM blog for the search engines. So there is no need to worry about SEO.

Google XML Sitemaps – Sitemaps are very helpful any helping the search engines to find and index all of the content on your mlm blog. This simple plugin automatically builds and updates your site map whenever you update your site, making it easy for Google to index your content.

Google Analyticator – Adds the necessary JavaScript code to enable Google Analytics logging on any WordPress blog. This eliminates the need to edit your template code to begin logging. Google Analyticator also includes several widgets for displaying Analytics data in the admin and on your blog.

WordPress Thread Comment – One of the great things about having an MLM blog is the interactivity of such a site. Your visitors and prospects are allowed to comment on the information that you post. This particular plugin makes it easy for users to comment on existing comments as well. It displays these discussions in a nested style format.

Sociable – Automatically add links to your favorite social bookmarking sites on your posts, pages and in your RSS feed. You can choose from 99 different social bookmarking sites!

TweetMeme – The TweetMeme retweet button easily allows your blog to be retweeted. The button also provides a current count of how many times your story has been retweeted throughout twitter.

WP Super Cache – This plugin generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog. After a html file is generated your webserver will serve that file instead of processing the comparatively heavier and more expensive WordPress PHP scripts.

WP-reCAPTCHA – reCAPTCHA is an anti-spam method originating from Carnegie Mellon University which uses CAPTCHAs in a genius way. reCAPTCHA has earned a very prestigious reputation among the various CAPTCHA systems available and is used by such sites as Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and a few U.S. Government Websites.

WordPress Database Backup – Everything that you post in WordPress is saved to a database. If you have ever suffered a computer crash, then you know just how trying it can be to get everything situated again. Your WordPress database is subject to crashes and corruption as well, so backing up your database regularly is a must. This plugin makes it child’s play with a few clicks.

While I have listed some of my favorite plugins here for your use there are thousands of plugins available for WordPress, and more coming online every day. If there is something you want your WordPress blog to do chances are there is a plugin available to do it.

While originally design as a blogging platform, WordPress has grown to be one of the most powerful content management systems available for the overall management of your website. The user friendly Administrative dashboard will have you up and running in no time at all.

Deciding to develop an MLM blog in conjunction with your network marketing business is a great idea. As we have pointed out one of the great things about using WordPress for your MLM blog is that there are many great plugins that will help make it easier for your blog to be found in the search engines and improve the overall functionality and interactivity of your website.

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If you have spent any time searching the internet, building an online business or a network marketing business you probably have a pretty good idea of the purpose behind a lead capture page. Even if you are new to affiliate marketing or network marketing you probably have at least heard of lead capture pages.

The real questions are:

*Do you currently use lead capture pages?

*Do you know the importance of a lead capture page in building your business?

*Do you know how to properly setup your lead capture pages to be as effective as possible?

As a matter of providing a little background information on lead capture pages let me start with a few of the basics. Lead capture pages are simply one page websites that are designed to point out the important key factors of your product or service, maybe some testimonials on your product or service and then most importantly to move your lead to enter their contact information in the form on your page.  At this point you now have a good quality lead that you will want to follow up with as soon as possible. By taking the time review your lead capture page followed by a demonstrated interest in learning more about what you have to offer makes this person a highly qualified lead.

If you have been in business for yourself for any given amount of time, I am sure that you’ll agree that in order to succeed with any network marketing or MLM business you are going to need a steady supply of fresh targeted leads who are anxious to get started in a home based business opportunity. New to the industry; No problem, but you need to understand that new leads are the life blood of your business. Without them you don’t have a business.

Ask any lead vendor that you can and you will quickly find out that they all know the importance of leads to your business. That little piece of information is exactly why there are a large number of lead vendors and why they charge the prices they do for their leads.

Having a visitor to your lead capture page is great, but they will expect an immediate response once they have filled out your request for information. One of the most important components to your lead capture page is an autoresponder. The importance of having a good autoresponder is that now you have the ability to automatically follow up with someone who has requested information regardless of where you may be at the moment. While there are many autoresponder services available for you to choose from the two that most marketers use are Aweber and GetResponse. Personally I use Aweber for a number of reasons, but the important thing is that you have them available to you.

A few of the important characteristics that you will want to note about your newly generated leads from your lead capture page are:

*Quality – the overall quality of the leads that you generate verses the leads purchased from a lead vendor will be of a much higher quality.

*Cost – the total cost of generating your own leads will be substantially less than the cost of leads purchased from a vendor.

*Responsive – as a general rule leads that you capture yourself are much more responsive to your marketing efforts.

*Real Time – one of the things that lead vendors want to charge large sums of money for are fresh leads. When generating your own leads they are about as real time as you will ever get.

We have already addressed the importance of an autoresponder, but there are a couple of other components required to round out your lead capture page, so that it will be as effective as possible.

Ever heard the term “Content is King”?

Well, when it comes to your lead capture pages this phrase couldn’t be more applicable. However, not only must you have the content available, you must be sure that you are appealing to your target market. Understanding your target marketing, capturing their attention, getting them to understand exactly why they need your products or service and finally moving them to the point of providing you with their contact information is no minor task.

This is where having the ability to write good marketing and sales copy is a must. If you are not gifted with these skills you must either learn them or have access to someone that can provide this service for you.

Next you need to have an incentive that will entice people to fill out your lead capture form. What will be your incentive or bonus for filling out your lead capture form today?

Getting a visitor to your site to understand why they need your product or service and then moving them to the point of actually telling you that they want more information and would like a follow up call/email is the ultimate goal. However, for the largest majority of the people to visit your site, you will need to offer them something of value to fill out your form. And, as you can imagine people expect that they will receive that offer immediately or within a very reasonable amount of time.

About now many of you are looking at this information and agreeing that you need a system for generating leads, but to be honest the task seems to be a bit overwhelming. The GREAT news is that you don’t have to do it all by yourself.

What if I told you that you could accomplish all of the above and a lot more by simply leveraging the use of existing systems?

Would that make this task seem just a little easier to tackle? Well, you are in luck because that is exactly what I have done. While I was blessed to have been able to setup my own systems in years past they were not nearly as effective as I wanted. Imagine my surprise when I found that there was a way in which I could bypass all of the hassles, have a much more effective system in place and generate large numbers of leads daily.

If this is something that you missing in your business and would like more information on how you too can leverage the power of the internet to grow your network marketing or online business through lead capture pages, please feel free to contact me or check out this link to get more information: http://www.mlmbizmadeeasy.com/

To Your Success

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So what do these topics have to do with each other? Actually a lot more than you and unfortunately not all of it is a good thing.

For years it has been very apparent to me that building a business through networking is the way to go. For anyone that has built a sizeable business, experienced great success and had the pleasure of referrals being key to that process, you fully understand this concept.

Have you ever been in a position where you really had no choice other than to make cold calls?

For many people the thought of having to make cold calls is enough to send them into a serious state of withdrawal. Still others are more than willing to take on choirs or tasks that otherwise would never get completed when faced with the prospect of having to make cold calls.

While I am not one of the above, Thankfully, I can tell you that when compared against other forms of sales and marketing the level of productivity has some serious suck potential. Your closing rate, your retention rates and often times the quality of the new prospect is simply not what you had expected.

Ever had a new customer that wasn’t exactly a good fit for your product or service?

Chances are you ended up spending massive amounts of time trying to satisfy and/or keep that client. Regardless of your success with this particular client I can tell you that you’re probably wishing you had more clients that did not consume all of your time because they were a better fit from the start.

Enter the world of networking, building relationships and most importantly referrals to prospects that you actually have a much better chance of success, creating a long term partnership and none of the hassles.

At least this is the way that it is supposed to go. The reason I say this is that as of late I have had a number of conversations with people that understand the potential of networking, are actually out networking, but simply don’t get it.

Hopefully you are asking: What don’t they get?

The challenge I see on a regular basis with these networkers is that they forget totally about the building relationships part of the equation, see everyone they meet as a new prospects/client and want me to buy something from them today.

What about the hundreds of people I know that may be potential prospects for their business?

Taking the time to build those relationships is can lead to an exponential business growth that many people have only experienced in their dreams. While I may be a great prospect for them, if these networkers will take the time to educate me on their ideal client I may know 10 or 20 people that would be a great fit for them. And, how awesome would it be if during the process, I volunteer the fact that I have been looking for exactly what they have to offer.

While many people have discovered the power of the Social media and the internet as a whole when it comes to building their MLM business, there are still large numbers of people making the same mistakes online.

How often have you met someone new only to have them trying to sell you on the “Next Best Thing” (NBT)?

More times than not, they know absolutely nothing about me and they are bombarding me with information about why I should be involved in their new opportunity. Often the same rules apply on the internet and through the various Social media sites as they do when networking in person.

For those of you that are fortunate enough to live in Indiana you know that we have countless opportunities for networking and growing our businesses. While the Rainmakers networking events represent one of my favorite groups, I was recently following up with a gentleman that I had met there only to get the response “I am not interested in your business”.

The really funny part about this was that I had not offered anything, wasn’t going to offer anything and frankly he would not be a good fit as a prospect for me. However, I do know of a number of people that could use his services and as a matter of habit was following up with him to schedule sometime to talk. My primary goal being to verify that these guys would be a good fit for him, and how best to refer him.

While I don’t know this for 100% sure, I will guess that he is someone that has a very limited understanding of networking. To complicate matters further, since he sees everyone he meets as a prospect, he automatically assumes that if someone wants to talk with him it is because they see him as a prospect. The sad part is that this guy easily just missed out on several thousands of dollars of revenue.

How important are referrals to your business?

How much more would your business grow this year with 5 strong referral partners?

When was the last time you met with someone to get a better understanding of how you could best help them with their business?

If you have an MLM business, did you realize that one of the other names commonly used for the industry is Relationship Marketing?

Regardless of which industry you are currently involved in take the time to find the various networking opportunities in your area, develop a few key referral partners and then watch the explosive growth you will experience in your business. Networking on the Internet works the same. Make the time investment required to build those ever so important relationships and watch what happens to your business. Referrals and Networking are the way to go for true success in life and business.

Let me know how important referrals are in your industry.

To Your Success!

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So, you’ve found a MLM business opportunity that you are expecting to be your backup plan in the event you lose your job, need extra income, or simply for money to save.

What are your plans to make that happen?

Yes, that’s right, you really have to plan for success in your MLM business or by default you are planning to fail. Success does not happen by accident and in fact takes a lot of work, planning and persistence.

Most people start their MLM business with a lot of excitement and plans to work their business during the evening hours after work, on the weekends and maybe even during their lunch break. However, that is where the planning ends. Unfortunately, that is where the planning should be just getting started.

If you truly want to build a six figure residual income that can lead to financial independence you must take the road less traveled. The good news is that the road less traveled is actually easier than you might think. At the top of the list you must know that regardless of the amount of time that you can commit on a weekly basis the key to success is “Consistency”.

Easy enough, but how do I ensure that consistency is a part of building my business?

*Weekly/Daily Planning

*Setting Goals as a means to measure your progress

*Find a mentor to old you accountable

Before getting worried about these concepts think about the following scenario. Let’s say that you work a full-time job and only have 5 or 6 hours per week to work your business. In looking at your schedule you realize that you can use your lunch hour each day and maybe another hour or so on Saturday’s. That’s consistency.

Maybe your are in a better position and you are able to devote 15 hours each week by spending 3 hours nightly to build your business. Again, while this situation clearly gives you the ability to devote considerably more time to your business we are still focusing on the CONSISTENTCY.

Regardless of the amount of time you have available for building your business layout a plan for working on your business at the start of each week. If you are like most people that weekly plan may look different from week to week, but the key is to plan the time that you do have available.

Closely related to the planning process will be your goals. Goals are a very applicable part of your personal life as well. Think about goals as a target. If you have not defined your target how do you ever expect to hit the target. Goals are the ultimate form of planning and as you will see in multiple places: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Beyond this make sure that your goals are WRITTEN down and REVIEWED on a regular basis. You can have the best Network Marketing Opportunity in the world, but if you want to maximize your success you will want to get started on your goals today. More importantly once you have written you goals down with the associated actions steps required to attain those goals, you will want to periodically review them to ensure that you are on track toward success.

While planning is an very important step it will do very little to help your grow your business if you don’t follow through with the plans that you have put in place. This is where a mentor can be a major help when trying to build a successful business.

In short mentoring is about a more experienced person helping another to achieve a goal. The overall mentoring process is about having an accountability partner, giving help in a non-threatening way and a manner that will empower the recipient to move forward with confidence towards their goals.

In case you have never taken the time to look into the history of the most successful people that you know, I would highly recommend doing so. Chances are anyone achieving great levels of success at some point in their journey has benefited from the council of a mentor who had attained great success. For all of you Star Wars fans, think about the relationship between Obi-wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker.

With a few key concepts of consistency, planning, goal setting and equally as important finding yourself a mentor, your MLM business will soar to levels you never thought possible. Speaking from experience ignoring these concepts will be at the determent of your business. If you need help in these areas, have more questions about how to grow a successful six figure income or simply aren’t sure where to start, please feel free to contact me.

To Your Success

There is no secret that there are literally thousands of people losing their jobs on a weekly if not daily basis with the current state of the economy. If you happen to be one of those people let me say that I am sorry.

Having been in your shoes a number of years ago, I can honestly say that was a very strange day for me. I wasn’t mad, upset or really anything beyond shocked and in a state of confusion. To be honest I wasn’t sure what the next step was going to be or when.

However, I can say that was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, for the simple reason that it made me take a hard look at what I was going to do with my life. Within a couple of days I was off to the races and as a matter of fact off to a race that I had not expected to be participating in.

The real question now is: What are you going to do different from here on out?

More importantly, are you doing to take control of your future or put it back in the hands of someone else?

Let me say right up front that I don’t ask that question lightly. There is a LOT more to it than simply making up your mind that you are going to take control of your family’s financial future. And, while I wish that I could tell you that it will be a walk in the park that simply is not the case.

What I can promise you is that if you are willing to work as hard for yourself as is humanly possible you will succeed in a way that you never thought possible. The great part about this is that you are now working for yourself and your family. Even better, you now have control over your financial future and don’t have to worry about going to work only to find out that you are no longer needed.

What most people are not hearing or seeing in the news is that while unemployment is on the rise, the Direct Selling industry is experiencing an explosion of growth. USA Today just published an article detailing the benefits of having a recession-proof job such as what can be found in the Direct Selling Industry. For more on the USA Today article “Direct sales (like Avon, Mary Kay) offer recession-proof jobs” click here.

Yes, I can hear it already from any of you that have had a less than positive experience with an MLM opportunity or worse yet, have only heard details from a friend who failed. If you are not totally closed minded and realize that there may be more to these opportunities than you may have thought possible please feel free to contact me.

The real story is that MLM opportunities are keeping people’s mortgage’s paid, food on the table, car notes covered and the list goes on. Still others are living a life that most people could only dream of and it is all because they were willing to step outside the box and explore the possibilities of a career in the MLM industry.

There are a lot of questions that you will need to get answered prior to making that leap of faith and it is VERY important that you get those questions answered as those answers will have a tremendous impact on your ability to experience success. Beyond getting your questions answered (many of which you don’t even know to ask), be sure to get yourself aligned with a reputable company that is not simply a scam parading itself as a legitimate business opportunity.

For a number of you that are just contemplating the possibility of stating a new career in the Direct Selling industry, you may need to have another source of part-time income until you get your business off the ground. Still others of you may be able to launch a successful business and be up and running before you know it. The important thing to know is that starting a MLM business is not like taking a new job whereby you will start cashing checks next week. However, the long term benefits are beyond measure.

If you are seriously considering the possibilities – CONGRATULATIONS!

Let me be the first to wish you success in hopes of a bright future. Regardless of your current status: made the leap, doing research prior to making the leap, or made the leap and just have not landed, please feel free to let me know how I can help.

For those that are seriously look for an opportunity, I would be glad to make some recommendations. Some I have personal experience with, while others I know of because I have very capable business associates that make a good living via the Direct Sales industry.

Many of you already know that the Direct Selling industry is not right for you. I understand that as not everyone is up to the challenge of building your own business. Let me which you success in whatever direction you decide to venture.

Today more than ever the Direct Selling industry is ideally positioned to allow you to build a successful and thriving business that will provide financial independence for you and your family. And yes, you will be stepping into a career that is recession-proof all while taking control of your financial future, taking control of your time and for the first time ever for many of you working with people that you enjoy being around.

To Your Success!

I meet people on a daily basis that have had contact with someone that earns a six figure income through network marketing and as such know that it is possible. While many have that dream of attaining a six figure income in the network marketing industry very few know how to actually make that happen.

First and foremost you must have a burning desire and the belief that you can actually be a six figure network marketer. Without this key component everything else that we will discuss here becomes irrelevant.

While it would impossible for me to cover everything that you really need to know there are some very important key points that you will find here.

How much time and money do you invest in your personal development?

If you are not yet a six figure network marketer and you spend more time on non-essential activities than you do on your personal development, you are simply putting yourself at a major disadvantage. One thing that so many people overlook is that the most successful people in the network marketing industry devote a considerable amount of both time and money to their personal development.

Seminars, Workshops, Books, Audio Books (when driving/traveling)  and Webinars just to name a few are available to everyone and should be a major part of your weekly routine.

Another major difference between the most successful network marketers and other network marketers is their ability to recognize the most important key prospects when they meet them. Take a look at many of the six figure network marketers and you will find that they have less than ten key people in their organization that make them 90% of their money.

Recognizing this fact for the first time made me stop to ask a few important questions:

*How did they find these people?

*Where did they find these people?

*What was it about these people that made them unique in the network marketing industry?

Don’t get me wrong here. These successful network marketers have many more people than that in their down-line, but most people who do network marketing are part-timers. Therefore the majority of their organization actually produces a smaller number of sales, when compared to the business the key business leaders generate.

So, how do you identify these key business leaders that can have such a huge impact on your business?

When you are in the process of interviewing your prospects for the first time you need to ask a series of questions that you can ask each prospect. These questions should be designed to help you determine their abilities and most importantly their potential. After asking the questions you shut up and let them do most of the talking. You are only listening, and you must listen closely because the information you are learning about them will be crucial to your success.

If you truly want to be a six figure network marketer you need to ask the crucial questions that will identify the prospects who will be your next key business leaders in your organization. If you are meeting this prospect for the first time via the phone it is simply enough to record the information for future reference. However, if you are meeting these prospects in at a network event you will need to ask a couple of key questions that will identify the prospects you will want to follow up with at a time when more details can be obtained.

When interviewing your prospects ensure that you collect key information such as:

*Interview/Mtg Date

*Name

*Phone

*Email

*Address

* Personality traits

* Strengths:

* Weaknesses

Collection of this information is critical as it will allow you to compare prospects, review their information prior to follow up discussions, and most importantly compare with other business builders that you have in your organization.

Some of the key questions that you will want to ask of your prospects will be:

*Have you owned a business before?

*How long have you been in the industry?

*What company?

*Why they started a MLM business? (Many times the details here will tell you their WHY)

Many of these questions will not only help identify prospects that are right for your business and will be a good fit for your organization, but will also help you uncover things that you have in common. It has been my experience that finding common ground with someone can be a huge benefit to the growth of your organization.

Some additional questions that you may want to consider exploring are:

* What methods are you using to build your business?

*What has been your biggest challenge? Why?

* How many people are you sponsoring each month?

*How much are you making?

* What is your primary goal for building a network marketing business? (Again, find their “WHY.” It is NOT money!)

With those questions you should be able to prepare an effective interview where you now have some important information to review and compare with previous prospect interviews. For the prospects that warrant your time and are a good fit for your business be sure to record some dates that you can contact the person again as part of your follow up process.

As I mentioned there are a number of key activities that must become part of your daily life if you plan to become a six figure network marketer. While there are no magic bullets that will get you to that level the things we have discussed here will go a long ways toward helping you achieve that goal. Ongoing personal development and an effective system for prospecting, following up with your prospects, and categorizing your prospects will help you become a true leader in your network marketing organization.

To Your Success

The answer to this question is an emphatic: YES!

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at the reasons why there are so many people that have questions about the validity of the network marketing business model.

All too often what happens to many people is that they are attracted to MLM by false or exaggerated marketing and then they quit after a few months thinking that all network marketing opportunities are pyramid schemes.

Then we have an entirely different group of people that hear the term network marketing or MLM and they look for the nearest exit. This is often the result of family members and friends that have bombarded wanting them to join their GREAT business opportunity. Deserved or not we have all heard the horror stories of people that now shudder at the mention of network marketing because at some point in life a friend or family member tried to get them to join Amway.

Even with the bad press and network marketing being called an pyramid scheme by many, there are countless people with the right mindset and desires that have been able to build and maintain multi-million dollar network marketing businesses.

Why such a drastic contrast between the people that automatically assume that you are involved in some type of pyramid scheme and those that have amassed great wealth through honest, ethical work in building an MLM business?

A couple of the most important key points is that you must be determined to succeed and you must be willing to invest your time, energy and yes some money in yourself. Chances are you do NOT have the skills required to get you to the point of success that you desire. Persistence and a desire for personal development is the path to achieving those skills.

From the start you must understand that not all people are going to want your products, services and/or your business opportunity. In some cases they will be totally sold on your products and would not give them up for a small fortune, but have NO desire to start and/or build a business. However, if they have no desire and/or interest in your products there is zero chance of them succeeding with your business opportunity.

Know from the very start that you are it is all about the number of prospects that you can put your products and business opportunity in front of on a daily/weekly basis. Identify your target market, understand who is buying your products, why they are buying your products and then use that information to market to those most likely to be interested.

When building your own MLM downline, don’t waste time on people who sign up but have no motivation or drive to succeed. Focus your attention on the people in your downline who are willing and ready to work on building their business NOW. I use a number of resources to keep my entire downline informed on the latest information, but I will only focus time on those that are ready to build their business.

As part of your initial process of sponsoring new business builders into your organization you should determine the level commitment, their goals, and frankly how fast they plan to build. For many that will mean a huge commitment to build as fast as possible, others will be building on slow steady pace that is comfortable for them and there will be a group that will build from time to time. If you understand where they are at the start it is very easy to set realistic expectations that will keep people from becoming disappointed in their progress.

Remember, you are in business. When you receive referrals or new leads, follow up with them. While the majority of people will not buy something the first time they see it you will encounter impulse buyers that will purchase the first time around. More often than not they will need to be contacted a few times before they decide whether or not it is what they want. Have a process in place to keep these people informed and in your sales funnel.

Make sure you are keeping up with the times. You need to know what marketing methods work and which ones don’t. While there was a point in time that you would build your business through in person meetings, telephone calls and through people that you meet through your normal daily routine, there are many other choices available to you today. Research current marketing methods like social media, blogging, pay per click, article marketing, auto-responders and use them.

Leverage the Internet trends. Blogging has taken on a life of its own so why not take advantage of it? Blogging will help get your name and business seen by prospects that would have never otherwise crossed your path. With a properly setup blog, each time you post you are creating new content, creating the possibility for new traffic to your website, enhancing your Web presence.

Start participating in discussion forums. Find forums that relate to your business. Offer advice, answer questions and post articles. This will help you to be seen as an expert in your field and as someone who is willing to help. Create a signature that includes your website address, which gives others a way to check out your website.

As I mentioned above, people that don’t like your product stand very little chance of succeeding with your MLM business. Like your product! How can you successfully sell a product or business if you yourself don’t like it? It is almost impossible! With so many network marketing opportunities available there is no reason you have to be stuck trying to sell products you don’t like and don’t use. Find something that you like, can get passionate about and more importantly that you believe in.

So next time you are wondering: Does network marketing work? You will know the answer is yes. Be persistent, have the drive and desire to succeed and use the right marketing techniques, and you may find yourself exactly where you want to be.

You are Destined for Success!

Coming from a background of both the corporate world and later moving into small business, one of the common discussions that I have participated in centered around defining the target market for a business owner. However, I find it strange that when asking the owner of a home based business to define their target market, I often find that the response is “anybody”.

The problem with that answer is that not just anybody will be interested in building a home based business. The quality of your prospects is one of the most important aspects of generating business for your network marketing business. The prospects you are dealing with should be targeted, so you are attracting the right people to your organization.

Most network marketers or home based business owners are in essence trying to sell steak to vegetarians. With the best business opportunity in the world to include a compensation plan that is out of this world, there are going to be a limited number of people that will have an interest in what you have to offer.

Ever wonder why so many of the people that you have sponsored drop out after such a short amount of time?

Most network marketers work at attracting everybody as a potential new prospect. Here is the problem, since their marketing efforts are not really focused on anybody in particular no one in pays any attention to their efforts. Believe me I used to do the same thing and the results of my efforts generated very few good prospects. The few did I attract where basically by accident.

At one point in time I even got creative and started using marketing materials that were misleading when you really boiled it down. While I did not want to go so far as telling outright lies it was easy enough to bend the truth enough to make for a much broader appeal. While that effort generated a ton of leads it ended up costing me way more in time and effort than it was ever worth.

All of my marketing efforts at this time all centered around messages like “make money fast,” “it’s easy,” “anyone can do it,” “earn a six figure income in months”, etc. While reading through those statements think about the type of people that those ads will attract.

I can promise you that they are the type of people that believe in get rich quick schemes, expect lots of money for little to no effort and in short expect to amass wealth without having to work for it. While a topic for a totally new discussion, there are natural laws of the universe in place to keep that from happening.

In my years of experience these people have always quit my organization because they simply did not have the right mindset to become successful entrepreneurs. Long story short, I wasted a lot of my time, money and effort on these people by trying to train, motivate and get them to do anything, when in the end they eventually quit.

That was the starting point for the discovery that I was attracting and working with the wrong people, when what I needed to be doing was attracting people like me that had the right mindset from the start.

So how do you find the right prospects?

In order to generate good qualified prospects you must be using targeted marketing material and strategies that will attract the right people to your network marketing business. To accomplish this you must ask yourself the right questions:

* What do they like?

* What motivates these people?

* How will they benefit from what your products, services or business opportunity?

* Where can you find these people? Where do they hang out?

If possible, also take time to look at your most successful business builders. Then focus your marketing efforts and materials on attracting those people to your business. With refocused attention in these areas you will begin to generate good solid prospects and more importantly your business will begin to grow.

The quality of the prospects that you are spending your time with will predict your future success, so if you have a network marketing business try networking with and when applicable marketing to other network marketers. You want to work with prospects who already believe in the business model, are looking for multiple streams of income and have the attitude that they are destined for success.

The only prospects that you want to spend time with are people who have been in network marketing, who are in network marketing today, or those who are actively searching out information to learn and improve their performance in the business.

For those of you that are truly ready to take your business to a level that you may have never thought possible you need to align yourself with people that can consistently provide you with qualified referrals. Imagine talking with prospects that already know about you, your products, your business and is interested in joining you before you have ever meet for the first time. Now, with that concept in mind, think about the impact that process would have on your business.

If you are the type of network marketer that could benefit from the concepts above please feel free to contact me at any time. While, these concepts are not right for everyone, I can assure you that those that find these ideas a good fit will reap rewards and benefits far beyond anything that may have dreamed.

To Your Success!

After having spent a large number of years in the corporate world before turning my attention to network marketing, I was surprised by the fact that I kept hearing about “Posture”.

Having always had a passion for health and fitness I was most familiar with posture as it relates to the characteristics of the body. However, the conversations that I was engaged in at the time had nothing to do with health and fitness. We were focused on how well someone was positioning themselves to succeed in business.

While the concept made perfect sense to me, I was intrigued by the fact that I don’t ever recall hearing the term “Posture” used in this context in the corporate world. Oddly enough this is a very valid and necessary concept to understand for anyone new to the business world, sales, leadership, management or any number of other occupations.

Leadership is equally important in life and business. More importantly, without posture it will be very difficult for you to succeed in a leadership role regardless of your career of choice. In network marketing one of the major problems with people to the industry is that they don’t have the” posture” to succeed.

Among the skills that may be lacking “posture” is by far one of the most important. To amplify the stress and lack of skills that may be needed to succeed, all too often people simply do nothing in their business until they are facing a tragedy of some type. At the first sign of potential pain, discomfort or fear of loss, they begin to work on their business expecting that by some miracle they will have the income required to make the pain subside.

Desperation is not a good motivator or trigger to use as a catalyst to get started building your business. The desperation does nothing but amplify your lack of posture, confidence, experience, success, etc. You will not and cannot build a large organization without “Posture”, because without posture you cannot establish yourself as a leader.

Believe it or not people do not join your business opportunity because they think you have the best product, the best compensation plan or any number of reasons. The number one reason people will join your business opportunity is because they believe that you can help them achieve success. Leaders and strong leadership skills are the only thing that will make them believe that you can help them succeed.

So what is this thing called “Posture” and what does it mean to have “Posture”?

According to Webster’s dictionary: Posture is a state or condition at a given time especially with respect to capability in particular circumstances.

Simply put another way, “Posture” is based on your confidence in your skills with respect to your prospecting activities, your business opportunity and your ability to help your prospect achieve success. In short, if you don’t believe in yourself and your opportunity there is no way that you will ever convince your prospect to believe in you.

With this understanding, I hope that now you can see why operating from a state or desperation puts you at a severe disadvantage, because of a number of reasons:

-          You are willing to work with anyone

-          You are expecting each prospect to be the saving grace for your business.

-          You are operating from a state of fear which is a very negative emotion.

-          And the big one: You let people waste your time!

I don’t care if you are talking with the most successful network marketing guru to walk the earth they must be qualified to take up your time. Many people I know get all giddy because they have someone of importance that they are prospecting only to have them waste their time. Nothing against, business owners, doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc, as they have all earned the right to a certain amount of respect, however they can and will waste your time just a quick as the next guy if you let them.

Qualify ALL of your prospects!

You must think of yourself as an expert in your chosen career, much the same as any of the professions I listed above. While they may be experts in their chosen fields, they are now taking your time by engaging in your prospecting process. Think about doctors. How often do you call a doctor’s office and speak directly to that doctor?

All of these experts have voicemail systems, receptionists, screen processes, etc in place long before you are actually talking to them live. Have you ever asked yourself why?

They are experts at making sure they are only spending time with qualified prospects that will add to their bottom line. Why should you be any different?

The best way to display posture if you are lacking it is to first and foremost have energy/excitement in your voice, knowing that you have the keys to the vault. You have the secrets to success!

With a little education, reading some of the powerful authors that are available to you and simply clearing the negative thoughts you have in your own head will go a long way to helping your build your confidence which will then lead to increased “Posture”.

While many people will exclaim a dislike for Donald Trump, he is honestly someone that ALWAYS displays a very strong posture and as such has achieved great success. Think of Donald Trump, sitting there in the boardroom on The Apprentice and it is evident that It is an honor for his contestants to have the opportunity to work with him, and they all know it. Even if you don’t watch or like the show, take time to watch a few minutes and you will quickly see what I mean.

It should be no different with you and your prospects. You are in charge of your prospecting process and should act like it. The best way to assert your posture on a call is to keep control of the entire process. Once a prospect asks a question and you answer it, you have just given away control.

The best way to do this is to defer their question and ask your prospect a question. Asking your prospect questions keeps you in control of the conversation.

Example Prospect says, “so what kind of business is this? What is the name of your company? You say, “_____, that is a great question, but we are not to that point yet. This is an interview, and I am trying to qualify you for my time. If you would like to continue that is fine, or we can end the call right now. What would you like to do?” Now you have control again.

What can having a strong posture do for your business? First, it positions you as a leader. If you are not a leader, how can you expect people to follow you? Second, it positions you as an expert in your chosen profession/career.

Prospects and customers alike seek out experts because they have the answers they are looking for and because they gain power by associating themselves with that person. Third, it allows you to guide them through your information system on your terms for maximum effectiveness.

A great way to help you start developing your posture is to simply say no to your next five prospects. Yes, that is what I really mean to do. Tell them you are sorry, but they are not who you are looking for right now.

This exercise will change your mindset and your posture instantly because it gives you all of the power and it will help you adopt a mindset of abundance which is a critical trait that all leaders share. Your mind will finally understand that you are the leader, and that the success of your business is not dependent upon any one person.

In all honesty, you should probably be telling NO to at least 50% of the prospects that you talk to each day if you are building your business correctly! The vast majority of people you meet will not have the characteristics you want in a business partner! Think of it this way: You are looking to partner with people in your business that will be making $100,000+ annually. Would you partner with just anyone for that position?

You were designed for Success!

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While many distributors get started in network marketing because of the opportunity to make money, there are a number of other benefits that network marketing offers besides money. Often these other reasons are much more compelling than the money itself, but these additional benefits are overlooked and basically forgotten about.

Take time to study the most successful people in business and you will see that they all create their own networks that then lead to success. The creation of these networks results in unlimited income potential through leverage. This leverage then leads to the use of not simply your own efforts and money but the money, time and efforts of others. The impact of these networks on your business leads to exponential growth.

While there’s no denying the success and credibility of Robert Kiyosaki, especially when it comes to his ability to build businesses and his ability to acquire wealth, here he writes about the value of network marketing opportunities.

The first value that he discusses is the fact that network marketing offers a “True Equal Opportunity” by allowing far more people access into the B quadrant. As many of you know, entering into a ‘B’ quadrant business can be a very expensive venture. However, Network Marketing is a business that provides access to the ‘B’ quadrant at a much more affordable price.

How many of you have surrounded yourself with friends that will pick you up when you are feeling down? Personally, I don’t know that I could have too many friends that would be willing to do that for me. If you feel the same, then you will enjoy the fact that Robert Kiyosaki, explains that Network Marketing is a great place to find friends that will “Pull You Up and Not Push You Down”.

Network Marketing, also provides an opportunity whereby you are now investing in the same investments the rich Invest In. As Kiyosaki points out in several of his books the rich are able to invest in things that most people simply can’t. While many people may have the desire, the American Securities and exchange Commission also known as the SEC requires that an individual have an annual salary of at least $200,000 a year or $300,000 a year per couple in order to be classified as an ‘accredited investor’ allowing you access to the inner sanctum of investing. As a result he suggests people look into network marketing because of the investment advantages it offers. Those who are successful in MLM can afford to invest in the same things as the very rich.

However, according to Robert T. Kiyosaki the number one reason why you should look at a network marketing company is the education that it provides. There are a number of different skills that you learn in network marketing that have real world value both inside and outside your network marketing business.

So, the next time you are looking at a business opportunity remember that it’s important to look beyond the products and the compensation plan and look into the heart of the company. Is it a company that is interested in educating you? Sometimes it is more important to understand if your sponsor is not only capable of, but interested in training you. Often times people overlook the fact that when joining a new business opportunity you are in essence going into business with your sponsor. Additionally, since you need to learn about the company and their products. You should be asking: What sort of training is provided specifically related to the company and products?

Have you developed your most important business skill?

If not, then network marketing is a great training ground for those interested in improving their sales skills. Robert Kiyosaki, explains that selling is the most important skill of the “B-Quadrant” and that if you can’t sell don’t bother starting your own business. Network Marketing offers you a unique opportunity because not only must you learn how to sell, you must in turn teach others how to sell. Therefore if you are a great salesman, but can’t teach others to sell your chances of success are not very good. However, for those willing to learn how to sell and to further teach others to sell, you will do well.

In discussing “The Value of Leadership”, Robert Kiyosaki quotes his ‘Rich Dad’ who told him: “Money always flows to the leader. If you want more money, simply become more of a leader.” One of the most important values you can get from a network marketing business is leadership training. Leadership is necessary and a requirement for success.

For anyone that has read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” or “CASHFLOW Quadrant”, you will understand why another value is the “Not Working for Money”. In his books Kiyosaki explains the differences between the four quadrants are explained. E=employee, S= Self-employed or small business owner, B=business owner and I= Investor. With that as a starting point he begins to explain that we should all strive to be in the ‘B’ or the ‘I’ quadrants. Network Marketing is a business model that can take you from the ‘E’ or ‘S’ quadrant to the ‘B’ or ‘I’, where you should be.

How about “Living Your Dreams”? This is one of the most important values of a network marketing business that Kiyosaki points out. For many people, a network marketing opportunity allows them to go after and live their dreams. Dreams are typically much more than monetary and go way beyond material things. For many these dreams include giving to their favorite charity, funding schools, churches and many more. Do NOT be afraid to Dream Big!

As many of you know, I feel that educating yourself is one of the most important things you can do to be successful, not only in network marketing, but in life. With that said, reading Robert Kiyosaki’s book “The Business School For People Who Like Helping People” should be part of your education.

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