Cost of living is on the upswing, regardless of which part of this world you live. Everyone from governments to citizen is locked in this centuries old battle of combating inflation.
Of course, some degree of inflation- or price rise- occurs naturally due to our dependence on imported or expensive stuff. Market factors including demand-and-supply dictate inflation indexes worldwide. The best way to battle inflation is by increasing your personal and family incomes. Of course, there are various options available should you decide to boost your regular earnings. However, in recent years, network marketing is fast becoming popular as an excellent source of extra income.
I have over 15 years experience in network marketing and was associated with dozens of good and bad MLM companies. I have recruited thousands of people in my downline and made excellent income from many of the companies. So today, I am going to share you all my experience about network marketing business and how can you become successful if you want to work in a MLM company.
Understanding network marketing
The term itself is self explanatory. Network marketing simply implies marketing- or promoting and selling- a product within your own circle of family and friends. You can extend it to include colleagues, neighbors, business associates and anyone whom you can network with effectively. And if you want to make it big then you can promote to strangers through offline advertisements like newspaper, pamphlet ads etc. and online marketing like blogs, Facebook, WhatsApp etc.
Advantages of network marketing business
● You can do it part time.
● In my 15 years career, I have seen hundreds of people who earn more income from MLM than their full time job.
● I have seen many people become wealthy including me during the same period.
● MLM business provides ample opportunities for students, housewives, retired persons, senior citizens as well as people with special needs to earn a decent income.
● You can start network marketing business without investing much money or even zero investment.
● You don’t require infrastructure such as a dedicated office for network marketing business.
● Academic qualifications are not important for network marketing; just anyone can do it.
● Network marketing effectively utilizes the society to introduce new products and concepts within a specific geographical area or demographic group.
● Products and services offered by network marketing tend to be lower priced than same stuff available at stores.
And the best thing I like about network marketing business is meeting new people & travelling to different locations around the world.
Other names for network marketing
Network marketing is known worldwide with myriad names. These include
● Multi Level Marketing (MLM).
● Direct Marketing.
● Pyramid Schemes/ Pyramid Marketing.
● Direct Marketing.
● Ponzi Schemes.
However, it is worth noting that the terms ‘pyramid’ and ‘Ponzi’ have negative connotations. They refer to scams. Direct marketing refers to schemes where you are the sole supplier of goods or services provided by a company. It explicitly implies, no agents or third parties are involved. This means, the consumer does not pay unnecessary intermediary commissions.
Skills required to work as network marketer
Frankly speaking, your academic achievements and qualifications are irrelevant for network marketing. You could be a medical professional or a reputed architect or even an illiterate. However, you can sell mundane daily objects such as herbal soap or food supplements as network marketer. Regardless, here are some skills that can help you become a successful network marketer:
● Excellent communications and interpersonal skills
● Patient listener
● Pleasant personality
● Convincing talker
● Astute judgment about money and finances
● Great organizational capabilities
● Friendly and gregarious
● Willingness to exert extra efforts
● Open to new ideas and concepts
● Skills to develop and consistently maintain network of contacts
● And most important, helping their team members to grow their network
Additionally, if you are a native speaker of any particular language, this ability can help you develop a network within an ethnic community.
There are no empirical studies to contradict this statement but generally women and senior citizens make better network marketers. However, this can be attributed to more time they spend on this work, compared with men and youngsters.
