Network Marketing--Hype, Hope . . . Sometimes a little of both

For me, the terms "Network Marketing" bring lots of reflection on my experience.  While this type of business can most certainly be a legitimate enterprise offering value to customers/consumers and to the people who participate in the business, it can also be a scamming technique intending to overcharge, provide something of little value for high costs, and "rip-off" the last group of people investing in the scheme.

Another word for network marketing is "multilevel marketing."  In general, it means that you recruit people into one or more "legs" or "downlines" and receive commissions on what your downlines produce to whatever limit is set by the business model.  Some business models are legitimate and some are not.  Often the Attorneys General of states get involved to decide which models are legitimate.  Some (like Amway/QuickStar) have passed these tests over time.  Others fall by the wayside.

One "test" for legitimacy is that there has to be a product or service being sold--the "membership" in the business cannot be the only thing someone pays for.

I have been involved with perhaps 20 network marketing programs over the years.  One of my first was Amway--a legitimate business which has evolved into QuickStar and which has been around for years.  Since then I have explored businesses with a focus on training, health care, insurance and investments, and many more.

Robert Allen will be releasing a new book (sure to be a best seller) in about two months, telling how to use Network Marketing to build a solid source of passive, residual income.  (I received an e-mail today from Robert advising me about a webinar he will hold on the subject on Friday, 9/11.)  Check Robert Allen out on Amazon.com to see when his next book will be available.)

Years ago the information was published that more people become millionaires through direct marketing (of which most Network Marketing programs form a part) than through any other source of revenue generation.

I am interested in the concept, providing that the business is legitimate, the products or services have value and are offered at a value to the public, whether or not the public chooses to participate in the business part of the program.  Better programs do not require a heavy initial investment, nor do they require someone to purchase a lot of inventory or to make a certain amount (dollar or quantity) of "sales."

I remember that it is important to keep asking questions and not to make any logical "jumps" (into the fire).  The saying about "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't" is good advice when considering a network marketing opportunity.

I heard about a network marketing opportunity today that sounds very interesting.  I certainly need to check it out fully before I decide if it's "right" for me.  Many are excellent and just not something I have the time and passion to be involved in.

Gradual income based on growth and sales will probably be one indicator of a company not set on scamming the consumer.  A most significant requirement is the value of the product or service being provided--and its cost.  This is certainly a time when people would like to bring in more income and a time when "money-making" scams abound.

Robert's book, like his others, will have lots of great tips about Network Marketing.  I look forward to reading it.  While I'm waiting, I just purchased a book by Ray H. Duncan from Amazon.com called the MLM Binary PlanThe MLM Binary PlanThe MLM Binary Plan. 

I had a birthday yesterday and building steady streams of legal, residual income is certainly a priority for me at this stage in my life.  I'm looking forward to learning more about the state of network marketing today.

Weighing Choices--Making Decisions--Assessing Results

We take these actions from earliest memory. Even babies are weighing choices--"do I do this or do that?"--making decisions--"I'll cry now because ..."--and assessing results--"I cried when I was uncomfortable (wet or hungry) and now I'm dry and full."

As we get older the weighing process becomes more complex as do the decisions and our assessment of results. Sometimes there are delays between our actions and the results we see. Have you ever decided to order something, then been disappointed in it when it arrived?

When we get much older, many of our choices and decisions and results have to do with health. My 94-year-old mother went to the eye doctor today who told her that a shot in her left eye would control the accumulation of blood caused by age-related wet macular degeneration. Mom loves to read and to use her eyes. While she knew the shot is painful (this was the sixth shot she's had over several years) she has already decided that, if something will help her preserve her sight, she'll go through the pain. She had the shot. Age-related macular degeneration doesn't get better. Treatments can at least slow down the vision loss and that was the choice she made today.

How do we weigh our daily choices. There are 168 hours in a week (24 x 7) and we get to choose how we'll use them. Most of us want to sleep some of them away. Some of us know the value of exercise in our lives and devote some of the hours to exercise. All of us want to eat some of the time, so we take time for that as well. Many of us work several hours a day. We want time for recreation--perhaps with our families. Whatever the choices, those are the hours we have to work with in any given week.

We make decisions, then assess the results--are we getting what we want? In some of my eating choices, I have chosen to eat (what or when or how much I eat) that caused me to gain three pounds this week. If I want to get that off, I have to change my eating and exercise choices this week and can check on the results a week from now.

Yesterday I read a newsletter article that talked about looking for work AGR ("after the great recession in 2007"). The author (at http://www.higheredjobs.com) said that we have to have a different approach to looking for work AGR. What we used to do no longer produces the same results that it did before AGR. (See the post about Spenser Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese.)

If you go to http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning-Affect+Models.PDF and go to slide 2, Shame-Affect-Decisions Model. It will give you a picture of some of what I am talking about here.

Social networking sites abound with the hope that people will connect with the right jobs (or dates or spouses or . . .) through their social networks. Some do and some don't.

All of us need to rethink our choices and decisions, the results I am assessing tell me that times have, indeed, changed and I (along with millions of others) need to change to keep up with the change.