Have you ever shopped at a GAP store?  Until about a year ago, I had not. 

What does shopping at GAP have to do with starting and building a network marketing business?

Visit your local GAP store and take a close look. It is a perfect example of creating fun and pleasurable shopping experience. To begin with, GAP stores are spotlessly clean and very well lighted. It is likely that when you enter, you will hear your favorite kind of music.

Does anyone bug you to buy that khaki pants you look at? No. Does anyone try to “close” you? No. Is someone overcoming your objection when you are simply not ready to buy? No way! GAP people just work hard on serving you. They will let you touch anything you want to touch, even if you ruin their amazingly folded clothing on display.

Why? Because they know that if you don't buy today BUT you have a pleasurable experience, you will feel so attracted to them that you will come back.

And they are right on target
They don't concentrate on making a sale.
They concentrate on creating a customer for life.

In my five and half years in the network marketing industry, I have seen many network marketers try to sell and close and lose friends in the process.  Now, let us be clear that one of the fundamental success factors in any network marketing business is the repeated sale and purchase of reasonably priced, high quality products that real customers really want and really use, month after month after month.

What if you could attract dozens or even hundreds of customers for life without calling leads, losing money on advertising and also without focusing on making the next sale?

I spent much of my early years in network marketing buying and calling leads and advertising with sizzle cards.  I made thousands of calls to leads and spend thousands on leads.  I enrolled very few customers and no business partners.

I thought the answer was to work harder, make more cold calls and to advertise more.  Then I was introduced to the concept and practice of attraction marketing.

Then I learned about and started practicing attraction marketing.

Attraction marketing is about making a customer for life not just making a sale. It's about connecting your passion in business with your perfect clients and customers and giving them a enjoyable experience with your company. People like buying but they hate being sold. Attraction marketing is based on alignment with Universal law and the principles of positive energy not on struggle, lack, and resistance. When using the principals of attraction marketing you are leading not selling. You need to give value and be of service every step of the way without giving away the store.

These tips will get you ready to put attraction marketing into action.

1. Start with the end in mind- what are your big vision success intentions for your business? Allow yourself to dream and continue to cultivate your dream daily. This is where you would look at what you REALLY want to create with your business in the next five years; it’s more than bottom line.  What really inspires you, burns the “fire in your belly”?

2. Get crystal clear on what you really want your business to do for you. Take a serious look at the amount of income you want, what your life will feel like with a successful business. What benefits will a thriving business bring into your life.?

3. How do you want to be of service and what contribution would you like to make in the lives of your clients and customers? It doesn’t matter if you have a service business or product business, the clear intention of being of service positions you for success from satisfied customers and their referrals.  You can then practice what Zig Ziglar teaches: “You really can have everything you want if you simply help enough people get what they want.”

4. What are you most passionate about doing in your business? When you have passion you have confidence, enthusiasm, and success. You are attractive to your customers when you are being passionate about your work.  This comes back to your posture and belief.  People will be attracted to you if they see that you are passionate, really care about them and can help them solve a problem and get what they want.

5. Take stock of where you are- has success been a struggle for you? Do you seem to have the same resistance and road bocks? Does it seem like you have a self imposed glass ceiling to your financial flow? Are there any beliefs you hold about your own success that are getting in your way? You will need to become aware of these and remove them before you can become an attraction magnet..

6. Detach yourself from the outcome and focus on becoming the person you must be to become a leader and attractive in your sphere of influence and in the marketplace.  When I started studying the “One Year Success Plan” by Jim Rohn, I really began changing my habits, language, speech, associations and skills.  Find what  you must do and get started.

7. What are the solutions you really enjoy providing for your customers? When you are clear on the solutions you enjoy providing you are giving your customers a greater benefit.

8. Clearly define your target market. Having a specific and clearly defied target market does not limit your audience, in fact it broadens and deepens your pool of customers and makes them much easier to market to. Clearly defining your target market is as much about who would be a perfect customer in your mind as it is about their characteristics, demographics, psychographics. etc.

About the author

Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the network marketing and home based business industry.  He owns a business in Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to start and success with a home based business that will generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.  Learn more at. http://www.jonroussel.ws

 

The concept of network marketing is not only simple, it's a very viable distribution and marketing choice for certain types of businesses.  The basic network marketing concept is a franchise model.

Successful network marketing uses a business model much like cable television, where thousands of customers continue to make repeat purchases month after month.

As a rule, person-to-person sales in network marketing are more effective than TV, radio, print or direct mail advertising. Moreover, network marketing employs this method of marketing primarily with a person's warm market or the people the marketer already knows and that know him or her. Products that need a certain amount of consumer education benefit most from this method of selling.

You can however, become very effective at using the internet to create a warm market.  I will write about this in some later articles.

Some customers who are sold on a certain product can be motivated to sell it themselves, and to recruit others to become sellers as well, forming a business "network" over time.

Some sellers will decide and want to sell and to recruit others, as they'll be paid commissions both on their own sales and their recruits' sales. The larger your network, the more money you can make.

While network marketing is a relatively easy business it is still a business and this is something that many people lose sight of. I have seen many people get into network marketing looking to quickly make money, only to fail rather quickly.

How do you ensure your business success?

Here are a few key considerations:

• Know your “why.  Jim Rohn says: “Change your philosophy, change your life.” The stronger your reason for want to change your life and succeed with a network marketing business, the clearer the strategy will be.  The stronger your why, the more likely you are to be consistent and persist through setbacks and hard times.
• Be thorough in your research and evaluation and choose the company that is right for you.  See some of my earlier articles for more information.

• Find a good reputable company to promote! Learn what makes a good company and understand that you (and your future prospects) have many options.
• Set clear and realistic goals with the help of a mentor.
• When you find the right company, commit yourself to identify and learn all of the skills required to reach your goals.  Learn from the leaders in your company and the industry what they did to get where they are.  Do not try to be a lone wolf or reinvent the wheel.  With my company, there are a few critical business building activities that we study, practice and teach.
• You must have passion for your product, service or companies mission. Many people join a network marketing program because they want to make a quick buck this is often not enough to move them to action. You must do whatever it takes to build your belief and passion
• Your why, belief, posture and passion will lead you to success and you will love the journey! Just be sure not to let passion compromise your ethics. Don't let your enthusiasm turn your marketing into hype. Find true passion for your business and you will find success in network marketing.
  

About the author
 

Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the home based business industry.  He owns a business in Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to start and success with a home based business that will generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.  Learn more at. http://www.jonroussel.ws

 

If you have done your home work and have studied and applied the information from MLM-The whole Truth at
http://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com/cmd.php?Clk=1284839 , you are now ready to take the next steps and get started correctly.

Just what does getting started correctly mean?  What is required?

When I decided to join a traditional MLM company six years ago, I did not know how little I really knew about the company, the network marketing industry and running a home based business. 

I thought because I had been successful at selling health club memberships and then as a technical recruiter, I could just apply these skills, tell people about residual income and great products and recruit a lot of business partners.  Well, I was wrong and made several mistakes when I started.

After five years in the network marketing industry, here are key steps I recommend for starting your new home based business:

1. Find your why and be absolutely clear why you are doing this business.  You should have gone through a process of self-discovery and discernment during your search and evaluation.
2. Commit to treat your business like a business.  If you have chosen the right company, where real customers order and use reasonably priced products month after month even without getting a check, treat it like a business and it will pay you like a business.  Treat it like a hobby and you will probably not make much money.
3. Determine exactly what and when you must do to build your belief in the company, products, business model, compensation plan and your ability to succeed and accomplish your goals.  Your belief and philosophy will determine your attitude and posture.
4. Commit to engage in whatever activities are required to build an unshakeable belief.  In my business, we say that “when you know what I know, nothing can and will stop you”.  Can you say that?  Go to all of your company events, including the convention.  Participate in teleconferences, webcasts, listen to the cds.  Be careful however, to not spend so much time with these that you do not engage often enough in the money making, business building activities that are required
5. Set up and schedule your business hours.  I do this at the beginning of each month.  I start with my day planner and schedule all of my regular events and activities, which include work, church, networking meetings, working out at the gym, getting a haircut, even doing laundry and grocery shopping.  I work full time from my home yet still do this.  I then enter all of this into my online Google calendar.  I then schedule for EVERY day of the week when I will work my business.
6. Inform your family and friends that you have decided to start a home based business.  Until you are fully trained, do not talk to them about it or try to present it.  If they are not supportive, make sure to ask them to not make any negative comments.  You do not want or need any negative people stealing your dreams.  I have seen many good people with skills and potential never get started because they allowed a negative person to sabotage their plans and dreams.
7. Find a mentor or mentors.  You will make mistakes; become frustrated, hit flat spots and experience “nos” and negative people.  You will also experience successes and triumphs.  You cannot successfully build a leveraged residual income business without the support and encouragement of a mentor and team.  I have worked with the same three business partners and mentors for four years now and the impact has been huge.
8. Ask and determine what are the critical business building activities with your company and study and practice them with your mentor.
   

About the author

Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the home base business industry.  He owns a business in Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to start and success with a home based business that will generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.  Contact him at jonroussel@yahoo.com. http://www.jonroussel.ws

 

 

 

 

There is no easy and rapid solution to the challenges of the MLM and network marketing industry.  Here is what I have learned to do to avoid some of the "pitfalls”

AVOID PITFALLS

1. Have a strong “why”.  If you do not have a deeply felt, personal, “gut level” reason for wanting to accomplish your goal, you will struggle.  Do whatever it takes to get it.  Your why is not: get out of debt, retire early, etc.  Your why is that deep level emotional and spiritual reason why you want to accomplish your goal.
2. Learn to dream.  I have a dream board and paste pictures of the house I want to live, car I want to drive, where I want to vacation. 
3. Treat your business like a business.  That means you must learn how to and must always behave as a professional.  It is not a hobby.
4. Act lime a small business owner and people will treat you like one.
5. Study, practice and teach business fundamentals.  I have made it a daily practice to learn study and apply best practices in business networking, small business/home business accounting, taxes, prospecting, internet etiquette, approaching and so forth.
6. Study, practice and teach personal development.  Jim Rohn says the reason for accomplishing a goal is what it will make of you as a person.  I read a book per week, listen to CDs, teleclasses and webcasts.  Work harder on yourself than you do your job and your network marketing business.
7. Be coachable and find a mentor.  Why reinvent the wheel?  Why behave like all of the other network marketers?  I have three mentors who I call every day to discuss my personal development and business activities and results.  I hold    myself accountable and so do they.
   

INCREASDE YOUR SKILLS

Becoming a better leader, networker, coach, and mentor seemed an obvious goal for me. 

That is easier said than done.  Here are some training resources that have helped me increase my skills and knowledge:

1. One of the best known trainers in the industry, John Milton Fogg, provides a comprehensive site: http://greatestnetworker.com/
2. Networking University includes many tools and trainings from top trainers, as well as a certification program: http://www.networkingtimes.com/university/
3. Fortune Now is a well known site by “Big Al” aka Tom Schreider http://www.fortunenow.com/
4. Kim Klaver built a large NSA business.  She now offers a newsletter, blog and training at http://www.bananamarketing.com/
5. Michael Oliver offers a free e-course at http://www.naturalselling.com/
6. A website by Lou Abbott with a comprehensive directory and a news service on the industry:  http://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com  Learn more about Lou Abbott at http://www.louabbott.com
7. Get a special seven day email seminar here:http://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com/cmd.php?Clk=1284839
8. Learn how to network and prospect online at http://www.jonroussel.ws
   

About the author

Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the home base business industry.  He owns a business in Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to start and success with a home based business that will generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.  Contact him at jonroussel@yahoo.com. http://www.jonroussel.ws

 

 

 

In the five and half years I have been in the networking and home based business industry, I have seen and heard a lot of hype and many polar opposite views of the network marketing industry. 

Some people are passionate about the industry, while others condemn it.  Some claim all companies are pyramid schemes and scams.  Celebrity authors such as Robert Allen, Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Kiyosaki advocate the industry.

Network marketing is, in its most fundamental sense, a franchise business model.  Such a model provides a duplicable system that involves the continuous repetition of certain activities. 

One key test of a network marketing or home based business company is whether there are large numbers of repeat customers who order and use real products even if they do not get a check. The fact is that Amway/Quixtar, Melaleuca, PrePaid Legal, USANA, and many others have sold millions upon millions of dollars of products to happy customers, many of whom are NOT also getting checks.

So why does the industry seem to have a black eye?  The problem does not seem to lie with the overall franchise business model. Network marketing is just a business model, and it really amounts to "micro-franchising". It has a low cost of entry, with the potential for exceptional revenue, and there are those who achieve that.

However, the things that make it attractive make it attractive to many who are NOT really qualified or prepared to become business owners.

Some of the characteristics of these people are:

• have not done well in their business or profession and have little money saved up to invest
• have no previous experience owning or running a business
• have no previous experience in sales
• have little or no experience developing business relationships other than that of employer/employee/co-worker
• are not satisfied with their current level of income
• have unrealistic expectations of the amount of work involved compared to the revenue realized
  

From my experience, without knowing any better, inexperienced or unqualified network marketers often

• oversell the opportunity
• inappropriately talk about the  business in social situations
• come  across as desperate
• focus too much  on new recruits and neglect existing customers as a result
• are either inaccurate or deceptive when talking about their business
  

What is the solution?

Read about it in my next post.

About the author

Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the home base business industry.  He owns a business in Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to start and success with a home based business that will generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.  Contact him at jonroussel@yahoo.com. http://www.jonroussel.ws

 

 

 

 

 

If you are reading this post, perhaps you are in a situation similar to mine five and half years ago.

At that time, I worked as a technical recruiter for a company that paid me $28,000 per year.  I had three major responsibilities and often felt overworked, overwhelmed and unsupported.  I thought the way to solve these challenges was to work harder, network more and to find a better job.

I was wrong.  One week after I helped some interns I had hired, I was let go. 

A few weeks later, I received an email inviting me to join a traditional MLM company.  I listened to a few testimonials, looked at the website and then joined without doing any research or due diligence.

Although I did not accomplish my goals with that company, I have since gone on to build another business with a non-MLM company.  I have accumulated knowledge about the MLM and home business industries.

Here are some tips for investigating home based business opportunities:

1. Do your homework.  Get the facts by researching objective information.
2. Look for news about the company.  Bad news travels fast, be careful if you find any news about complaints, investigations or questionable claims about products.
3. Ask someone you trust and respect to also evaluate the information you are looking at.  Do not ask them to join with you, just to help you with your decision.
4. Make a thorough list of the apparent strengths and weaknesses of the company.  Get the facts from those people who have approached you.
   

Here are some websites where you can get some information:

N Pros has been around for a while.  You can find a lot of resources here.

http://www.npros.com/

You will find some distributor listings here so be cautious in your evaluation.

http://www.best-mlm-opportunities.com/

There are some threads in the forum about MLM companies.

http://www.onlinemlm.com/

There are some threads in the forum about MLM companies.  You need to get a free membership to post.

http://www.mlmforums.com/

Take care to sift through the editorial content.

http://www.mlminsider.com/

More about scams and legal cases.  You can learn about lawsuits and complaints here.

http://www.mlmwatch.org

A website by Lou Abbott with a comprehensive directory and a news service on the industry.  

http://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com

Learn more about Lou Abbott at http://www.louabbott.com

Get a special seven day email seminar here:

http://www.mlm-thewholetruth.com/cmd.php?Clk=1284839

About the author

Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the home base business industry.  He owns a business in Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to start and success with a home based business that will generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.  Contact him at jonroussel@yahoo.com. http://www.jonroussel.ws

 

Welcome to Reach Higher Success Working From Home by Jon Roussel. 

If you are evaluating home based businesses you may be like I was five years ago, not sure what is real and what is a scam.

There are many ways that you can make money from home...  If you are looking to join a home based business company, here are the factors to look at and for:

1. Company reputation.  Do your homework here and get the facts.  Read reports from the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce and directories.  Find out how long the company has been in business.  Find out the background and accomplishments of the management team.  Do news search and if you find even one bad piece of news that may be a red flag.
2. Product.  Do they manufacture and distribute real products that real customers order and use every month, even if they do not get a check?  Is the product reasonably priced and can its quality be documented?
3. Start up costs.  What are they and how much will it cost to get started?  Are they refundable?  If inventory is required, this may be a traditional MLM company.
4. Monthly sales quota.  Is there a monthly requirement to get a check?  Ask to see it in writing.
5. Inventory.  Do you have to keep inventory, sell products, deliver, and do collections?  Do you want to?
6. Support.  Ask to see a real, live example of what support and training you will get.
7. Risk.  What is the refund policy?
8. Reorder rate.  What is the documented month after month reorder rate?  Avoid anything where business builders are just getting in for a check.
9. Compensation.  How will you make money?  Is it based on the purchase of real products by real customers?  If it is not, stay away.
10. Passion.  Speak with others in the business to see if they are passionate about the products, company and compensation plan.
    

Do your homework.  Speak with others in the business.  Get information from these sites

     MLM Watch

http://www.mlmwatch.org

     About the author

Jon Roussel is a five year veteran of the home base business industry.  He owns a business in Beverly, MA and teaches business owners and others how to start and succeed with a home based business that will generate a long term reliable leveraged residual income.  Learn more at  http://www.jonroussel.ws

Contact him at jonroussel@yahoo.com.

 

 

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If you own a home based business or work from home, come here to learn and grow.

Jon Roussel