Network Marketing Journey

Clearly, we all want to make more than a single dollar. That’s a given.

However, in order to make $10,000 a month you first need to reach $1,000 a month. Also, before you get that far you must reach $500 and in order to reach $500 you need to know how to make that first dollar.

Like anything else there is a process involved.

Before I get started I’d like to share a small piece of my history. When I got started with my first network marketing company I was at a loss. I had no clue what I was getting myself into and I didn’t have the confidence in myself to talk to people about it, let alone build a stable business.

After a year of struggling with that company and trying to find my way I still hadn’t made a single dollar. Not even one. All the money I spent on monthly fees and everything else went down the drain, until tax time when I’d get some of it back for having a home based business.

During that time I changed a great deal. I spent much of that time exploring myself and expressed those changes through blogging. Which marketed my business because I had a couple links to my websites on my blog (This is method number one btw).

Until I was mentored in the ways of SEO and Internet Marketing I didn’t realize how important this would be to making money online. By this time I had joined another company and the links on my blog reflected these changes.

Method #1: Blogging and SEO

My first sale of the opportunity and the products came as a result of my blogging. I wasn’t even blogging about the company or what I was attempting to do there. I was talking about my own personal journey in becoming a better person.

It’s really important to note that I wasn’t actively trying to recruit or sell anyone on anything. They chose to click on the link and THEY made the buying decision. This works because the people who are getting to know you feel no pressure from you and have the freedom to do what is best for them.

This method does take some time because you’ll be writing articles, blogging, participating on Social Media Forums each day. It takes time to get visitors to your websites but if you are willing to put in the time and effort now, it will pay you back in dividends later.

To this day I get people purchasing product from my websites because they’ve stumbled into content I wrote or an ad I posted over a year ago. And that will continue to happen because I’m always writing and participating in the online community.

Method #2: Selling Product to People Locally

Lots of people start to feel kind of green under the gills when this subject comes up. It can be difficult and ackward to approach people about something you are selling but there is one simple mistake most people make when they do.

They try and sell everyone within a 3-foot radius on their products and keep pressing until they’ve scared them away. This is the wrong way to go about it. Trust me, I did this when I first started too. Its easy to get over zealous about the products we believe in but its important to be professional about your conduct as well.

So what do I recommend?

When the confidence for talking to people started to rise up within me I would normally just mention it in passing. If someone asked me if I was still working at the store I’d tell them that I was but that I started a part time business and was hoping to see it grow big enough to go full time.

This often would gain their attention and allow me to tell them about the product and only the product.

Eventually, people started coming to me when they needed advice on when or where they should book a flight. Now my co-workers, family and friends do all the talking for me and the people they talk to will also approach me about booking a flight or cruise.

This is a function of word-of-mouth and viral methods of marketing. I live in a fairly small city and grew up in a town of about 400 people.

I have always been known as a computer expert (when I worked at the Albert Lea, MN store it was common to spend the first hour or so on the phone taking computer tech calls because I was known for this) and in more rural areas computers, technology and the internet are somewhat of a greater mystery.

This is why news of my owning an online travel agency spread in a viral nature.

Ok, thats all great if you have a grand campaign for building a business but when you’ve just signed up your first thought is recouping some of the costs.

How do you talk to people in a manner which will attract them instead of repelling them?

First of all, before you go hog wild be sure the person would even have an interest in your services. Maybe they don’t have a desire to take vitamins which will increase their vitality or a ticket to see Machu Picchu.

If they would have an interest in your products let it come up in the conversation naturally and don’t be forceful about it. Leave the opportunity out of the equation and let that bubble to the surface of its own accord (if it does at all) as well.

Give them your website address and then allow them to make a decision.

Another approach is to give them a free sample. My mother is a good example of this one. She has sinus issues which cause her a great deal of discomfort and I had a nutrient rich product which would aide in alleviating some of that pain.

I have her a free bottle ($45 value) with the request that she try it and if she liked it she could buy more if she chose too. She tried it, loved it and it helped relax the headaches just as I had hoped. Because of this she bought several more bottles from me over the course of some months and remains on the product to this day.

Again, she had a very real need so she was interested in the product. Secondly, I was willing to give it to her at no cost so it was a risk free trial.

All of these things add up to being willing to give before you receive.

There are so many ways to make money in your business without using the traditional in-your-face methods I couldn’t begin to go into them all in this post. I’ll save additional thoughts for more posts.

But what about you?

Do you have some advice to give? Feel free to share it with everyone in the comments below.

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