O.k., you have discovered the PERFECT network marketing opportunity! A distributor for the company has proudly exhorted all the benefits of getting involved, and visions of dollar signs are dancing in your head. But WHOA, hold on, did you perform these 3 crucial steps of due diligence BEFORE jumping in head first?

Step 1) Go To The Company Website And Gather Background Information

I know what you are thinking. The company website is just going to be full of company propaganda. And, basically you would be correct. The background information you will be obtaining concerns the company ownership and management teams. Any network marketing opportunity worth it’s “salt” should provide ample background information on the leadership team. If the website does not provide ample information regarding the backgrounds of each of the leadership team, the company could be trying to hide something.

NOT, A Good Sign!

Ideally, the leadership team should have ample network marketing experience. It is a “red flag” when most of the management team has business experience not related to network marketing. It is also important to determine how long the company has been in business. Generally speaking, you want to get involved with a company that has been launched for at least 1 year. It is beneficial to get involved early, but not at the expense of losing your investment.

Step 2) Get Opinions Regarding Your Network Marketing Opportunity From Google

Perform a Google search with the search terms consisting of the name of the company followed by the word,”scams.” Gather your fact finding from the free listings that appear on the left. Often you will find forum postings that chronicle the experiences others have had with your potential network marketing opportunity. Take these experiences seriously, but keep in mind that you probably do not have the full story. Try to form your opinion from a consensus of experiences.

Step 3) “Interview” At Least 3 Different Potential Sponsors

This step is definitely the most important. NEVER limit yourself to being recruited by only 1 potential sponsor. Again, go to Google and type in the company name as the search term. This time you will be selecting an ad listing that appears on the right side of the page. This time you will be taken to a website either owned or operated by your potential sponsor. If the home page of the site promotes the company well, you might want to contact that individual. ALWAYS let potential sponsors know of your screening process. Make them aware that you will be “interviewing” others. How your potential sponsor reacts to the competition could be a determining factor in the selection process. If you get a barrage of sensational promises,

Drop them like a “HOT POTATO!”

Selecting the best network marketing opportunity is very challenging. You will be tempted to make quick decisions. But you MUST take your time.

In the end, your diligence will pay off and your network marketing business will turn out to be a great network marketing opportunity!

Most people involved in network marketing are a little like ourselves I suppose. We get by each month and get the opportunity to include a new person here and there. We follow all the right advice from our uplines, this is usually along the lines of reassurance that we should continue doing what we are doing and wait for the day it comes together. But hey, we are human too the urge to sneak a peek at all the free information available online. This isn’t so bad, most of what we read is confirming that we are already doing all the right things; occasionally something really stands out as being new advice that might be worth a shot, this is when my heart races a little faster and my enthusiasm is renewed a little more.

I found some serious education where some clown was asking up to $10,000 to teach me the secrets of growing my downline. I can’t say that I wasn’t tempted, everything that was said sounded like it was perfect for me. What I really wanted was tested and proven marketing MLM network training that works. But there was a whole heap of free information on the internet, so off I went on my own little search for all the free information I could use. Every now and then I would buy a $50 eBook or spend just a little on a CD, or something else that my upline would recommend. Nothing seemed to be working. My results were the same week after week. I concluded that free MLM training doesn’t work.

Eventually it came to me like a lightning bolt. I lacked the one thing that was essential to running a successful MLM company, professional training. As it worked out this was a life changing direction for me. I had taken a few free MLM training classes but found that it really doesn’t work. After investing just a little into tested and proven marketing MLM network training I found myself making lots of money. Before I invested in genuine MLM training my average monthly profit was just $100.The verdict was free MLM training doesn’t work but tested and proven marketing MLM network training really works.

They money I invested in genuine profession MLM training was absolutely money invested well. The true power of multi level marketing it seems is in tested and proven marketing MLM network training because it has been tried and proven to work. The answer was so clear that I just don’t understand why I did not see it before. Perhaps I was blinded by the desperate hype of free MLM training that simply doesn’t work.

Here are the facts on free MLM training and proof that it doesn’t work in a simple sum

• Start with amount of your earning for the last three months

• multiply it by 4 to give you the sum of your yearly projection

• Imagine you may have come across a few gems and have a good month or two, so we will double that sum.

Now here’s the fun part. Take the sum of the first steps and consider this your “now” money. Let’s pretend that you have taken what you have learnt from your tested and proven marketing MLM network training to see how it works. You get to add 20 to 30 people to your business every week. We will call this “potential” money.

• Deduct your “now” money from your “potential” money

• Your answer goes here.

Although you may be frightened by this result it is not recommended that we should rush out and pay good money on the next super advertisement you see for some miraculous MLM training program. You must be certain that the program you are investing in is tested and proven marketing MLM network training presented by an expert who will guarantee that it works. In fact you want this guarantee in writing and for it to clearly state that guaranteed return of at least 10 times your original investment. Better still; why not expect this result within just 12 months. I’m sure there might be a few MLM training “experts” that might claim this, just to be sure that your selected MLM network training is genuine and true to their word demand a money back guarantee, in writing of course.

It’s time to stop wasting our valuable time on free MLM training that doesn’t work and start seeing real results and success with tested and proven marketing MLM network training that works.

Imagaine waking up each morning know that a MLM lead would be calling you that day, and the next, and the day after. And not just one MLM lead, but 5, 10, in fact, so many, you were having to farm most of your MLM leads off to your downline. This MLM lead is not a friend, family member or a pesky in-law. A MLM lead who knew what you did, knew your product, knew your MLM company, how the products worked and the benefits they gave. They were calling YOU up wanting YOUR product, and 1 out of every 10 wanted to be part of your MLM opportunity.

How GREAT would that be!!

Well this MLM lead is not from my imgaination, this MLM lead has been developed through consistent contact with you and you haven’t even spoken, personally emailed, or seen them in your entire life!!

I’ll let the this MLM lead secret out of the bag.

Autoresponders.

Autowhat? Yes, autoresponders. A MLM lead leaves their email address, name and phone number at a lead capture page (more about that in another article). In doing so, they automatically sign themselves up into an autoresponder for a series of emails (that they can cancel at any time – this is NOT spam) that are delievered every 1, 2, 3 or 4 days, depending on what you set up.

You write the emails that are sent out once, load them on the autoresponder, and then every mlm lead that signs up gets a series of emails telling them about you, your product, your company, and educates them on everything from the benefits of the product to establishing you as a leader in your MLM.

Let me tell you why this is so effetive for each and every MLM lead.

80% of people buy on the FIVETH contact with someone or a product, not the first!!

That’s right 80%. A huge figure!!

Once it is set up, an autoresponder allows you to contact these people without you having to do any work at all!! Every MLM lead is getting great information on your product and you and getting closer and closer to that magical 5th contact.

Obviously you need great content and handy tips and information otherwise your potential MLM lead will not want to get your handy dandy emails. They will just click on the link at the bottom that unsubscribes you from the autoresponder. Writing great content is a skill that most definitely learned, but again – another time, another article…

Benefits of an autoresponder for you;

- Works when you’re sleeping.

- You write the emails once, but the autoresponder pretends you’re writing 1000′s every day.

- Autoresponders are very cost-effective – as little as $20p/month.

- No mailing out information, it’s all done electronically.

- Establish you as the expert.

- People call you up, wanting your product, rather than the other way around.

- Autoresponders don’t ask for days off.

When you have tonnes of eager mlm leads clamouring for your attention, that brings MLM into a totally different light doesn’t it?

That’s when you end up adding 20-30 people every single week into your business and doing that consistently for a while, then go buy your small country.

Network marketing or MLM is an excellent strategy to build long-term residual income. Residual income is generated by the ongoing sales to loyal customers in your network marketing organization. Therefore, the key to generating residual income is to build a large base of satisfied customers. Here are the five most important keys to achieving this goal.

1. Lead Capture Page

The purpose of capturing the name and email address of your leads is to build a relationship with these prospects. Make your lead capture page’s headline powerful. Each headline should attract your readers to want to know more and why they should subscribe to ‘earn money fast online ‘ list. Bullet point what you will offer. You may also want to give out a free report that will compel them to subscribe.

2. Auto Follow Up System

Imagine if your business comes to a point where you are generating 1,000s of leads per day! You would not be able to follow up with each one of them on your own. So what you would need is an auto responder that will automatically follow up with your prospects.

3. Find a company with a deep and wide compensation plan

For residual income, you want to be able to build a deep downline. The best compensation plan for residual income is one that gives you increasing commission on at least 5 levels. You also want to be able to build it as wide as you like to accommodate a large base of retail customers.

4. Lifelong Traffic

There are many ways to drive traffic to your lead capture page. However I always advise network marketers to spend time on traffic methods that will continue to generate itself for many years to come. One of this lifelong traffic method is article marketing. Try to write and submit at least 5 articles per week. Each article should be of 300-600 words length. By submitting articles consistently, you will generate as many as 100 leads per day and you will be generating a fruitful MLM residual income in just a matter of months.

5. Add retail customers by marketing your products

Don’t lead with your business opportunity, because chances are you don’t have on yet. Instead, learn how to market your product to the right target market. This is actually much easier than recruiting and keeping new distributors. Once you have acquired that skill, and developed marketing tools for your product, you are now in a great position to transition from retail to residual income.

Surviving in this business is tough for many. However don’t give up and just be determined. Start implementing the three steps above and you’re already on your way to your freedom ticket with a rewarding MLM residual income paycheck. Just keep thinking and visualizing about what freedom would be like with true automated wealth

I have been marketing on the internet for over five years and building my Network Marketing business. Over the years I have met a lot of interesting folks. Some of those interactions remind me why the Network Marketing Industry is so problematic for so many people?the dark underbelly of Network Marketing.

It is not unusual for Network Marketers to go to my site and fill out the form in an attempt to cross-recruit me into their business. These are people who seek to capitalize upon rather than solve the problem of the known attrition rate in the industry and never stop to ask themselves whether it is good for their business to build with people who can be enticed away from their current enterprises.

I think by now I have pretty much seen it all: the brash distributor from A.C.N Canada who had his brother hit sites. Follow up and you get Mr. Brash who?s pitch went something like. ?you gotta %^&*($#join me. I am at the top of the compensation plan. Money talks &$%# walks!? The couple, with the Travel Biz who would like for you to join them because they are at the top of their compensation plan. The wife fills out the forms online, the husband answers the phone. Then there is the couple with 700 people in their downline. They are not making money because no-one is buying, using or selling the product. People are people. There is even a distributor or two at the top of my company who will go to crossline distributors and offer to train them personally?the catch, of course, is that they quit their business and join their downline. Ah, well, such is life.

Something happened recently, though, that inspired me to write this article. Last night I responded to a gentleman from Michigan who went to my site. He told me that he had already found an opportunity. I was following up with him less than 48 hours after he went to my site. I thought, ?wow, kid you are getting slow.? Intending to wish him luck and let him go, I asked him which business he decided to join. Big Ticket to Wealth was his answer. Before I could say, ?goodbye and goodluck?, he said, ?would an extra $1000 to $3000 per day interest you?? I had to laugh.

Several years ago I had the priviledge of sitting next to a couple on a plane. They were a former pilot and flight attendant with the now-defunct Pan AM. They were at the top of their then company, Excel. I was with my first network marketing company. We got to talking, they did not pitch me on their company. Instead they said, that the biggest mistake that people make is leaving their company for a ?better opportunity?. It is well known in the industry that the longer you stay with your company the better your odds of success. ?As a policy, we don?t cross-recruit.? They went on to say that most people join a company for solid reasons. Unless the company betrays them in some way or those reasons genuinely change, folks should stay the course.

That encounter stuck with me. They gave me awesome advice. Network marketing is a hard business. There are days of disappointment and there are ?championship days?. There are weeks of 4 figure checks and the surprise missed pay day. My first company did betray me and several thousand other distributors and I had to move on.

Hopping from company to company no matter the hype is one sure way to lose and lose big in network marketing. I know many people in the industry who were with 3-4 companies over a decade. They spent more time out of the industry than in. They learned from each opportunity and allowed time to produce the maturity they needed before going into a new opportunity. One of my dear friends was introduced to network marketing over 14 years ago. She was never with a company longer than 6 months, and found success with her fourth company. After 2 years of failure in her fourth and final company, she found the maturity to transform her business and move to the top of that company.

She found the ?one true thing? in Network Marketing.

I found my current opportunity and have stayed with it. I joined my team because my team has systems of success. I got started with my company because it has a solid reputation, products systems and services. I had just a little wealth and wanted more. Now I have so much more wealth and freedom because I found the one true thing in network marketing: success belongs to those who pick their company well and have the personal maturity to draw that line in sand and make their stand where they are.

While the Direct Selling Industry has had phenomenal growth in the past half of dozen decades, network marketers continue to struggle to achieve their desired goals and dreams. Not because the direct selling business model or a multi-level compensation plan doesn’t work. The truth is they do work but most network marketers don’t do the work they need to do to get their job done.
I have been on both sides of the fence. I use to struggle to sponsor and recruit, in fact, I had no clue how to succeed. Now I want you to know I was not stupid (as I graduated #14 out of 314 students in my high school senior class. I also graduated with honors in my business management class.
The reason for my failure was I was good at procrastinating and keeping busy rather than being good at applying the universal fundamentals that guarantee success. The biggest mistake I made was I was building a busynest rather than a business. To build a business requires real action, the action that puts you consistently in front of your prospects and customers.
The great news is I went from 6 figures in debt and struggling to make ends meet in my life and business, to becoming debt free and earning a 6 figure income through a direct selling network marketing type business. I even became a heavy hitter recruiter by recruiting 10+ people a month for 73 consecutive months (that was over 800+ people I personally sponsored).
The way I did it was I figured out and applied universal strategies and techniques that guarantee success. It was not about getting 3 and I was free, nor was it about getting others to build the business for me. The truth is I applied simple proven-to-work strategies and techniques that helped me work smarter rather than harder. I applied these things consistently and worked from a plan.
I built my business by design rather than chance. One lesson I learned early on was that people will watch what you do and what you don’t do. They watch even if they don’t let you know they are watching. This led me to understand that I need to lead by example and with action. Plus I need to go the extra mile, meaning doing the extra little things that catapult growth and nurtures relationships with both my customers and downline.
One of the biggest mistakes network marketers make is they fail to learn, understand, and apply consistently the universal fundamentals of network marketing success. Forget about the magical formula or secret automated tool. Go back to the basics and master those basics.
Mastering the basics will begin with getting certified in the fundamentals of direct selling. This means becoming a certified network marketer and building a business by design, making sure your business is built on solid ground (universal fundamentals). This does not mean you can’t learn and use advanced or master level strategies and techniques, because you need those too. However, until you learn and master the fundamentals that guarantee network marketing success, you will never be able to gain the great benefits that come from the advanced and master level strategies.
You know the saying, “You have to learn to crawl before you can walk and you must learn to walk before you can run.” As a network marketing professional, before you can run a multi-million dollar residual based direct selling (network marketing) distributorship business, you need to learn to crawl and walk (this requires the understanding and effective application of universal fundamentals).
If you want an edge, a real competitive edge, you need to be professionally certified. While certification is not required in this industry, to survive in this economic environment, certification is a necessity. Make a commitment to yourself, your business, and this great industry and become professionally certified.
In just one day, you can learn, understand, and even begin to apply the universal fundamentals that guarantee network marketing success. You will enhance your competency, improve your credibility, and even increase your cash flow in your business.
The one thing most network marketers will tell you that is wrong is that you do not need to sell. The real truth is network marketing is a method of marketing within the direct selling industry. To succeed in network marketing, you do have to sell. Don’t believe me? Just look at your upline leaders and the heavy effort they do in selling you on the idea you don’t have to sell.
I believe if you don’t like to sell, you can learn. However, if you are unwilling to learn, you NEED to get out of the business and go do something else. The real secret to network marketing success Is not in recruit others who tear up the town recruiting others. The secret to success is in acquiring new customers and keeping those customers coming back (retention) for more, month after month after month. Then, recruit others to your team that will do the same. If anyone tells you different, they are lying to you (or they don’t really know how to build a network marketing business that will grow exponentially in sustainable profits).
I encourage you and challenge you to put what I teach you to the test. You already know that it is difficult to chase people and build a large duplicating downline. In fact, the majority of those reading this article are frustrated and want a much better result in their business. Even if they are leaders with large organizations, they are frustrated with the high attrition and the lack of real action from their team. They won’t tell you this and will try to make you think they are doing great, but deep down, they know what I am saying is absolute truth and they want a much better result from their people.
My best advice is that you learn to get new customers and consistently get new customers each and every month. Then recruit others who do the same. But don’t stop getting customers yourself; instead, continue to build that customer base.
The secret to recruiting comes from the consistency of action, action comes from belief and confidence in what you do. If you can’t effectively sell your product or service, how can you ever lead a team of people to sell your products or service? And if no one is selling anything, how in the world will you make any money? The sad fact is when you consciously decide to just focus on recruiting; you are doing yourself and this industry a disservice.
Customers are what makes this industry strive with growth and it is where your income comes from.
Now don’t misunderstand me here. You still need to build a downline team. However, you must first master the task of getting customers. Once you do this, you have greater confidence and a true belief that your product is something people need and will buy. You will have a real life example of how to create instant cash flow in a business (which is what most people want but don’t achieve).

Nine out of 10 people who fill out a network marketing application will fail to build a viable business. Among that number will be people who do not take action and people who build a business yet experience a true business collapse.

The oft-quoted statistic allegedly from the Small Business Administration(SBA) that 9 out of 10 of all businesses fail within 10 years by comparison is not true.

According Brian Headd?s article from Small Business Economics 21:51-61, 2003: Redefining Business Success: Distinguishing between Closure and Failure, 66% of conventional businesses survive 2 years or more, 50% survive four years or more and 40% survive six years or more. Traditional small businesses do far better than the 90% failure rate quoted by people in the network marketing industry.

What is the difference? Is the network marketing model itself faulty? Many familiar sales models use the same business model as network marketing. Real estate sales are a prime example. Many top sales people across the automotive, pharmaceutical, travel and other industries have as their main responsibility to recruit and train sales people and in return are paid commissions based on the performance of their teams. It is not the model.

What is it then? Why do so many people fail in network marketing?

Working with people over the past 5 years and in speaking with other successful network marketers during the same time, I have been able to come up with 5 reasons:

1) The cost of entry is too low: The typical start up costs can range from 0 to $1500 dollars. Imagine the person who decides to open a traditional business and has to invest tens of thousands of dollars to do so. How might that person differ from the person who can put their business start up on a credit card? The person seeking to open a conventional business where the investment is high will develop a business plan. That plan will include a skills assessment, expected expenditures and projected revenues. If the prospective business owner realizes they have a skill deficit that is material to their business success, they will either set to work learning that skill before opening their business or they will provide funding and a plan to acquire that skill while they are in the planning stages and before they open for business. Now imagine the person who can simply put their start up costs on their credit card. For the majority of network marketers there is no planning beyond the initial start up. Most never ask of their sponsors or themselves what they may need to be successful other than the initial start op costs. They never ask what skills they lack. There are on-going business costs in addition to the start up costs and those costs can range from $100 to $500 dollars per month. Many do not make provision for on-going expenses. On-going business expenses tend to be regarded as expenses akin to the cable bill rather than investments in their business. The low start up, then, can be a stumbling block to success in business.

2) Lack of appropriate training: Unfortunately many companies and teams do not offer training beyond corporate events. In order to be successful network marketers must master a simple formula, the Inviting Formula, and they must use that formula 30 to 60 times per month. Without this formula many new and seasoned network marketers will invite the wrong prospects to review their information and find themselves disappointed by the results. The Inviting Formula is simple to learn and implement. Why is there so little training available in network marketing? I believe the reason can be found in the very reasons why people get started in network marketing. Take the wage earner who wants to fire his boss. He never wants anyone to tell him what to do again; he hates his boss and wants to be free. Take the corporate executive and the entrepreneur both of whom are tired of managing people and are looking to build a fleet of independent business owners that they never have to manage. Put both groups of people together in what is fundamentally a people business and what do you get? People who find that they have to do what they were trying to get away from in order to be successful and become free! YIKES!

3) Too many people are looking for the big income score and fail to appreciate the smaller sums of income they earn along the way. Most people get started in network marketing because of the big income claims. They want the six figures. If they don?t get ?em they quit. Here is a statistic that will knock your socks off. Anyone grossing $30,000 per year or more with their respective company is among the top 3% of income earners for their company. Here is another fact. The income earned through network marketing is tax-advantaged income. Income earned through a job is not. Anyone earning an additional $30,000 dollars per year in tax-advantaged income who fails to make significant strides in improving their wealth will never improve their wealth with $100,000 per year. Finally, the road to earning and keeping six figures and beyond is a 5 to 10 year process and there is no way around it. It is a process that requires growth and change in the areas of personal finance, emotional maturity, spiritual maturity, and personal association.

4) Low EQ, failed expectations, too much hype in the industry: Looks like I jumbled 3 different ideas into one point but they are actually all related. There is a lot of hype in the industry. Joe Smith the waiter to went from 0 to six figures in a year. Of course Joe Smith and his company forgot to mention that all of Joe?s family were involved in the industry of network marketing, that all were successful, and that Joe was working as a waiter just to figure out what his options were. That skills are required is just one of the ?inconvenient truths? of network marketing. The hype leads invariably to failed expectations. If people understand at the start that network marketing is really a business that requires a skill set fewer people would get started and more people would be successful. The organizations created would move from vertical sales organizations to consumer-based organizations as more people seek to become product users rather than business owners. Network marketing itself is an industry that attracts too many people who desire instant gratification. Daniel Goldman described the Emotional Quotient or EQ in his book Emotional Intelligence. He found that the greatest determinant of long term success was one?s ability to delay gratification.

5) Money In, Money Out: Many people treat Network Marketing as a Money in, Money out proposition. Imagine a black box. On one side of the box is the word ?IN? in bold letters. On the other side is the word ?OUT? in bold letters. It would be easy to think that just because you put money in, you should get money out. Investments rarely work out that way. See the trouble is that ?black box?. Something goes on in that black box that transforms inputs into outputs and therein lies the rub. As an illustration, I was on the phone with a prospect the other day. He said, ?I have been scammed so many times, what I need is a person who will work with me, show me the ropes, train me?are you that person?? My response was, ?yes, we have a training program that begins with our training manual. We have weekly calls and I will be meeting with you a couple of times per week and giving you assignments each time we meet. You won?t progress unless you do the assignments and attend the training calls?are you that person?? Stone cold silence. He never did answer my question. With my first company, I received motivational materials at a cost of $60 dollars per month but no training. In my second program there was training galore that I didn?t take advantage of. I thought my team?s system would build my business for me. When I realized that it wouldn?t, I had a choice, quit or continue. In order to continue I had to ask myself some questions, among them, What skill or skills do I lack? There are 2 skills required in network marketing A) the skill of inviting which has embedded in it the stills of listening, sorting and sifting and B) The skill of training which requires the skills of boundary setting and the skill of setting expectations. I lacked the skill of inviting. I learned my profession through experimentation, direct observation and practicing. I applied those same strategies to learning the skill of inviting and I went from sporadic checks to consistently earning multiple 4 figures per month.