The Absolute Beginners Guide To Network Marketing

In the mountains of West Cork, a short drive from where I live, there is an old gravel road that winds through the hills for miles like a gigantic snake before coming to a long-forgotten lake the size of a small village. We canoe there in the Spring, swim there in the Summer and camp there if the weather is fine in Autumn. In the Winter we walk the dogs.

We have christened this place ‘The Long And Winding Network Marketing Road’ and I’ll explain why…

I take our three dogs here once a week with the family to blow out a few cobwebs, drag myself away from the social media drug I seem increasingly addicted to and give my wife and three children a few hours of family time with dad (whether they want it or not!)…

The dogs love it. It’s wild and rugged with all kinds of distractions along the way and plenty to sniff, smell, roll in and occasionally consume and at the end there is the lake; blue and deep and free for all to take their share.

The dogs know this place well by now of course. They have seen the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and drank from the lake, swam in it and chased geese across it in the Summer and when we take our walk each week they have the same choices to make.

They can race towards the lake, head down, forcing anyone in their way to either run for cover or follow their frantic lead.
Or..

They can take their time, enjoy what the jorney has to offer them, maybe even see if they can make a few good friends along the way or learn something no other dogs know.
Hey..

They can think about the size of the lake and wonder if there will be anything left for them to drink when they finally get there, racing headlong towards it.

Or..

They can tell a few good friends where the lake is and what a great and wonderful place it is. Maybe there are other lakes and rivers they might find along the way, who knows?

If you hadn’t guessed I’ll tell you what they do. They stroll, play, roll in the long grass and meander on and off the road like three old friends returning home after a long night on the black stuff. They enjoy each and every second of their journey along ‘The Long And Winding Network Marketing Road’ and when they reach the lake they take what they need and leave the rest behind, after all there is more than enough to go around.

And every week with every walk I notice how much pleasure they take from the journey. We can all race towards the lake, leaving our family and friends wondering where we have gone and who we are or we can take our time, focus on the end but enjoy the ride along the way. Swim in the ocean when we get there but don’t forget to dip our toes in the river along the way.

We have this cat see? She lives with us, like one of the family you understand? We call her MLM and here’s why…

MLM landed on our door a couple of years back - the way cats do sometimes. She was a bit rough at the edges and looked like a good meal would be easily lost on her skinny frame. We didn’t want a cat. Never wanted a cat (nothing against them but our middle child has allergies and her eyes blow up like Marty Feldman and we’ve three dogs who like the idea of chasing anything that moves).

So we fed her. Yeh, I know, not the best idea ever but she was hungry.

And we agreed as a family she wouldn’t be allowed in the house and would make a bed for her in the shed if she wanted it.

But, as cats do, she didn’t see it the same way and spent the first couple of months on the window ledge, looking in when we were eating as a family and tapping on the glass to see if we would open the door and throw her some food. She was just being herself and we liked that so let her stay.

After a while we would leave the window open a little and throw food through it every so often to keep her quiet (she had started to meeow loudly by then and the tapping on the window was almost non stop).

Then one day she made her way in through the window and sat beside us as a family while we ate supper. This was a persistent cat you understand.

So we fed her again. Yeh, I know, not the best idea but she was pretty entertaining to have around and the kids loved her meeowing as we ate.

And we agreed as a family she was only allowed in at meal times and all other times she would be outside.

But as cats do (and great networkers too) she had other ideas. MLM persisted, she made her meeows more amazing and entertaining (she even started to meeow when we were talking as a family at meal times as though she were agreeing or disagreeing) and we were smitten. Smitten with this amazing big MLM kitten if you want to know. She had got through the door and we were hooked!

7.00am this morning and MLM is walking on top of my head to wake me from my slumber beneath the duvet. She wants her breakfast and she’s just letting me know. Honest and to the point so I get up and I feed her some fresh salmon from the fridge. I know, not a great idea but this is a long term relationship and you have to make a few sacrifices don’t you…?

So, if you’re struggling with your network marketing business, or any other home based business in fact, take a few tips from MLM.

Be persistent
Be entertaining
Be amazing
Be focused
Be honest
Be yourself

Follow MLM on twitter

It’s 10.00am in the morning and the winter sun is stretching across the hills of West Cork. My three young children are sitting by the fire, their faces glowing, filled with laughter as Homer begins his latest adventure…

Like Homer, it has taken me a long while and many network marketing adventures and exploits and a few disappointments along the way to realise this is truly where I belong and as my children sit by the fire, warming their skin and bones and wondering what Santa Claus will place on the hearth a few days from now, I begin to wonder what will be my story in 2009 and how will I tell it…

Will it be delivered with humour or sorrow. With love or passion. With hope or fear. With regret or with promise…

I hope my story, and your story, will be delivered with all these things and more. And for that, people will listen.

So, tell your story. It is your unique gift and one which others will share with you like warm bread through laughter, sorrow, hope and promise, taking them to a place far away from where they began.

Tell your story…

(more…)

Network Marketing In The Twenty First Century

Network marketing has changed quite a bit over the last fifty years or so from it’s door to door beginnings, through the golden age of hotel meetings, the three foot rule, flyers, posters and newspaper ads to the era of online marketing and the power of the internet.

During those years, networkers have gone from peddling vacuum cleaners, delivering catologues door to door and selling cosmetics to making millions in a matter of months with an effective online marketing system. And when the goldrush began the prospectors followed, and then more followed, and more followed until finally the internet was full of networkers looking for customers.

Time went by and the clever guys (and gals) Mike Dillard, Eben Pagan, Ann Seig, and a few others realised it was time to start selling shovels and stop panning for gold. Teach marketers how to market for customers and stop chasing customers and the world’s your oyster, at least the network marketing world.

So, magnetic sponsoring was born and attraction marketing followed in many different guises and soon the online marketing world was full of people pretending not to be networkers and doing whatever they could do to avoid telling anyone what they did for a living. Why? Because nobody likes to be sold and the salesman was dead in the street. So we began to coach, mentor, provide valuable content to help others grow and build their business.

The result; a sea of online talent unimaginable five years or maybe even three years ago. Thanks Mike, Eben, Ann your work is much appreciated!

But where does it go from here?

Like most things in life it will go full circle in the twenty first century. The old saying ‘customer is king’ will, I believe, return to demand a return to the beginning once again. Only this time the customer will be more educated, informed, experienced and demanding.

So, if you’re to survive in this new era what will you need to know?

How to target your customers worldwide to build long term, stable income instead of constantly fighting attrition as your team leave to find the next big thing.
How to market your product to offer real value to those customers month after month
How to use the internet to reach millions of potential customers in seconds
How to lead your team to a never ending supply of customers
How to build a massive organisation while hardly being noticed by your competitors, after all if the cat gets out the dogs will follow.
How to identify your niche and maintain your market share without breaking the bank

If you’re not able to do these things then you need to learn and if you are unable to understand find yourself a good teacher. Either way, stay in the game, learn how to leverage your time, skills and contacts effectively and be consistent. Not for a day or a week but for months and years until you begin to understand the business and discover the secrets of online customer acquisition.

Hi.

Neil Ashworth here.

It’s Sunday morning and the rain is falling on the mountains of West Cork, Ireland, as I look out of the window across the fields to the back of my wonderful home.

My children are climbing a fallen tree in the woods across the way and laughing as our chocolate labrador attempts to do the same.

This is a wild part of Ireland, for those of you who don’t know it, with stray cats and dogs that walk the narrow lanes like New York street gangs and old men who pose as tourist attractions in the pubs and bars, their faces covered in lines that show the world their wisdom.

For me this is home. This is where I live. This is where I work. This is where I belong.

The last week has been fairly hectic as I start to roll out my plan to expand my business empire across the water to the United Kingdom. A small step on the map and a narrow stretch of water compared to the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean but from a business perspective very different and quite unique.

I lived in the UK for many years- so know the people well and have a good feeling for what works and what doesn’t - and yet this step feels enormous and potentially life changing.

So here I sit, pondering and contemplating, planning and structuring the way I like to do (maybe you do too fellow Goat?), building my empire one day at a time.

Enjoy your Sunday morning …

The number one stumbling block for the aspiring Network Marketer is developing the ability to Invite prospects to view their opportunity. Setting appointments can be one thing but getting people to really want to know what it’s all about is another.

In the next few posts I’m going to talk about a few essentials so come back from time to time and give me your feedback and what works and what doesn’t.

These are some of the things I’ll be talking about;
- Posture & attitude
- Approaches
- Scripts & script concepts
- How to really get a commitment (the secret to success)
- Follow up
- Warm market and cold market techniques
- High investment models or low entry - who’s the winner?

Let’s get started with Posture & Attitude.

This is vital if you’re going to build a strong business. You have to become a true Master of Invitation. Your posture, attitude and energy make a huge difference in how people respond to you so listen up.

YOU HOLD THE POSITION OF STRENGTH

People are searching and praying for a solution to their problems. A road out of the poverty trap. A secret key to success. You have one! So many network marketers approach prospects with a pleading message. “Would you just take a quick look at my opportunity?” Nothing is more unattractive than someone begging - you’re not asking them to do you a favour. You have what they want and don’t forget it!

Don’t beg. Don’t plead. Be strong! You have the secret my friend. If they want it let them work for it.

DON’T RELAX!
People are drawn to other people who are busy, active and doing things. If you act like you have all the time in the world it sends a bad message. You have to be on the move… things are happening, lots going on. Acting this way does three big things for you. It makes people more interested (they tend to chase what’s moving away), it makes you appear less needy and more powerful, and it doesn’t open the door to 8,000 questions that set you up for a very poor opportunity presentation.

DON’T LET THE OUTCOME IMPACT ON YOU IN ANY WAY
This is massive and vital to your success! My posture is “Listen, I need you to realise what this is all about. It might be for you- it might not. It doesn’t matter to me if you join or if you buy, the only thing that really matters to me is if you understand what this is, that’s all.”

The message I’m sending is “I want to help you understand this. I need to know if you’re off my list or on it”.

So many people convey a huge emotional attachment to another person joining their business. This is a turn - off. If I believe you REALLY need me in your business, I’m going to wonder “What’s this guy selling?”.

MAKE THE CALL WHEN YOUR ENERGY IS HIGH
Whatever it is that get’s your blood pumping make sure your head is right and your energy is high when you make those calls or extend those invitations. It will make a big difference if you do and a big difference if you don’t.

VIEW EACH INTERACTION AS A LESSON
Don’t be too concerned if the invitation doesn’t go to plan. If you just view each invitation as an opportunity to learn something, then you can never lose. Learn. Grow. Practice. Expand your knowledge of yourself and others. Let go of the belief that this prospect or the next is vital to you. They’re not. They’re just another opportunity for you to learn and grow.

That’s what it’s all about after all…

Keep busy.

Here I am sat in front of the computer waiting for one of my business partners to arrive from Galway and I start to think…’Does a Home Based Business mean no Bank Holidays ever again?’

Well, the truth is out there, as the saying goes, and take a look at any successful network marketer and they will tell you one thing. You never stop.

It might seem as though you’re listening when your partner walks into the room, throws a cup of coffee your way and tells you the kids have just climbed up onto the roof and are throwing slates at the neighbour’s cat for the fifth time this week but the truth is you haven’t heard a word of it and so you smile curiously and say something like ‘ Oh, okay, I’ll be with you in a minute. Thanks for the coffee’.

You haven’t heard a word because you’re too busy looking for that next million. Your home based business is taking over your home and there’s nothing you can do about it.

And listen, if this is you…

It’s okay.

Really…we understand…we know what it’s like to rush down stairs at 3.47am because there’s just that something you need to do online because the guy you were talking to an hour ago in Hong Kong promised to get back to you and you’re sure he’s probably online right now waiting for your reply and besides you’re not really that tired.

We understand.

So go do your thing this bank holiday and forget that others around you have different lives.

Yours is exactly that so make the most of it.

What are your home based business options in Ireland or indeed anywhere else in the world?

When you start to look at your work from home options in Ireland you can very soon be overwhelmed by the number of voices shouting at you from afar and offering you untold riches for very little effort. Believe me this is not the case. Like all things in life you get back what you put in. There are work from home opportunities out there which can make you wealthy and give you that extra income you’ve been searching for, but you have to work at them and network marketing is all about your effort, your persistance and your openess to acquire new knowledge. If you have these three qualities it could just be for you.

The internet is full of get rich quick schemes so be careful and keep your wallet in your pocket until you decide which direction you wish to travel in.

And remember this simple truth; if it seems too good to be true then it probably is.

There are many work from home scams out there and a few less than scrupulous individuals who are more than happy to offer you the world with their once in a lifetime opportunity just to see you sink without trace several hundred or even thousand euros poorer. They call this Vampire Marketing - taking new blood and watching it slide down the drain.

So, my advice to anyone thinking of taking the plunge and looking to start a home based business in Ireland or anywhere else in the world is very simple but if you haven’t heard it before then listen…

Don’t pay a penny, cent, dime or franc (I know they don’t exist anymore but I still like the sound of the old french franc don’t you?) until you have spent at least one month researching what options are out there for you with your home based business.

If it takes longer than a month, then give it that time. Believe me, the next best thing will still be just around the corner in two months time, six months time or even a year from now so no need to rush in all guns blazing (even if the guy on the other end of the phone tells you the time is now and only now - that’s a closing technique and nothing else).

Do your research and be honest with yourself when you look in the mirror and when the time is right for you to commit to earning your fortune from home then commit to it and you will succeed.

Take the following steps;

* Speak to others who operate a successful home based business and find out what works for them and what doesn’t. We’re all different remember, so what might be right for me might not be right for you.

* Speak to others who have failed in setting up a home based business (you will learn more from this group so listen carefully)

* Surf the internet to see what home based business opportunities are around and which would be easy to operate in your own country (many online home based business opportunities are solely for the US market and will not, however much your sponsor assures you, translate to a European market)

* Be honest with yourself and list your strengths and weaknesses (they call them challenges these days but let’s be honest here) and see where they stand and fall in the business world. Are you a good networker or does the thought of meeting new people turn your stomach? Do you have a hidden talent that you could market? Are you prepared to learn a new skill set and take the time to perfect it in order to build your business over time? Do you really want this?

* Decide what you can invest in building your home based business and look for an opportunity or business idea which you can succeed with. It’s no good taking on too much too soon or you will simply fall at the first fence. Remember, this is a long run and not a sprint so start with small bites and build up to taking bigger portions once you have started to see some return on your investments (and by investments I mean sweat, blood and tears if that’s what it takes to get your home based business off the ground)

* Finally, list the ten things you love about yourself and the ten things you don’t and with each home based business idea you come across write down ten things about the ideal person you think would be good at that business. If you score more than five in your good list, you’re in with a chance of success. If you score seven and above you could be onto a winner. If you start to see the hate list coming to the fore too often then perhaps you should stick with the day job.

Keep busy,

If you’re looking to create a professional image for your Home Based Business the fastest, cheapest and easiest way is to own your own domain name.

If you’re trying to create a picture of success so that people will follow you into your home based business opportunity you will have to register your own domain name and build a website or get someone else to build one for you if you have the money. It’s that simple.

Don’t get me wrong, it won’t exactly lift you to heights you always dreamed of. In fact, these days it is almost expected that you’ll have your own domain name for any kind of business you’re involved with but if you don’t it will most definitely damage your street cred.

When building your network marketing business or any other home based business you decide is right for you, you are creating a profile for yourself as well as your business with everything you do. So, start out right and look for the right domain name.

Don’t make the mistake of jumping in with the first free domain name that comes back at you as this could be costly. If you fail to select a domain name which creates a picture of success and value for your home based business you will find that people will go elsewhere. People follow leaders and you can expect to see them heading in the opposite direction if you have an email address that goes something like bigasssuzy3456@hotmail.com for your will writing business.

If I’m looking for a new domain name for a business I’m promoting I’ll take hours and sometimes even days making a list of twenty or thirty different domain names before I even attempt to register one of them. This is essential if you’re going to create the right image for your home based business. If you’re not a great judge, then take your list around and ask fifty people on the street what image they have in their minds when they read each of your list of potential domain names.

Remember, the old saying, first impressions count and today with the power of the internet that couldn’t be more true. You won’t get a second chance with 99.9% of people and the ones who do let you through the door as bigasssuzy are possibly not the ones you will want to work with to take your home based business to the next level.

With your own domain name you will be able to create a personalised and professional email address to support your future correspondence and this is essential if you’re going to build your profile and capture customers from the opposition.

A further reason for owning your own domain name in case you’re still undecided is that this allows you to use what’s called ‘redirect’ for any affiliate products or links you might wish to promote if you’re building your business online.

An affiliate link might look something like this; http://www.thecompanyname.com/43637

As you might have guessed already there are a number of problems with this type of link.

* People have a habit of forgetting the number if you’re giving them the link over the phone
* People decide to remove the last part of the domain name and have a look at the site themselves.

Either way, you guessed it, you’re going to lose money and fast.

Affiliate addresses are usually fairly long and difficult to remember and Google Adwords will prohibit their use simply on character count when placing an add so you will need to redirect from your own domain name to whatever affiliate link you wish to promote. This is very simple and if in doubt go with a tried and tested hosting service like GoDaddy who will do most of the work for you.

All you have to do is use what is called URL redirect or domain forwarding. This is like a postal redirect only faster. You simply instruct the hosting company to redirect all traffic from your site to the affiliate address for the product you are promoting. This allows you to advertise the domain name you selected and not the one your affiliate product company has given you to promote.

Here’s a list of my top five tips for creating a successful domain name and getting good ranking with search engines:

1. Try to use the key words in the domain name itself
2. Go for .COM over any other domain name extension
3. Go for a generic domain name which you can use again and again for different promotions
4. Go for words and not numbers in your domain name
5. Finally, if you can afford it, purchase all other domain name extensions to protect yourself against the opposition .net, .biz, .ws, .org, .ie, .co.uk and on and on. That way nobody other than you will benefit from misplaced domain name extensions being typed into the browser somewhere along the line.

This can seem an expensive outlay for anyone starting out with their home based business but it’s worth it down the road and you should be able to pick up a domain name and hosting account for around €5 per month.

So there you go.

The next step is to find a domain name which is still available and start to promote your home based business with a new face.

Keep busy,
Neil.