Throughout the network marketing industry, newcomers have come to know all to well the phrase, “Fake it ’til you make it.” If you’re a home based business entrepreneur and haven’t heard of this phrase yet, just wait….you will. So before you do, let me lay it all out on the table for you. “Fake it ’til you make it” has taken a wrong turn somewhere. It has become a different way to say, “Lie until you are making the money,” and has damaged the reputation of the network marketing industry as a whole.

So in this post, I want to set the record straight for those who are in fact “Lying” through their teeth but don’t know any better, are teetering on the edge of fakin’ it or are teaching their new recruits to wrongfully fake it. Read the rest of this entry »

When I write the words, “Home Based Business,” you might automatically assume I am writing about a Network Marketing opportunity or some type of an MLM. When all it really means is exactly what it reads, a home based business, or a business based at home. Since the words “home based business” have been tagged to the network marketing industry, the non-network marketing businesses have been tagged as “work at home jobs” or “work at home businesses.” Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t watch much television but occasionally, there’s a show that will catch my eye and become impossible for me to not watch it. That show right now is the History Channels “The Swamp People.” I am so into it, I created a few swamp people shirts for my family and decided to offer them to the public as well. The things they say are catchy!

Half the time it’s nearly impossible to understand what they’re saying because they have such a thick accent, but it’s fun to see the unique way they make their living. At times, they seem like they’re so happy that I just want to pack up and go hang out in the Bayou for a while.

Read the rest of this entry »

So today I had a conversation with a buddy of mine, Jonathan Burke about a good article marketing software to use, more about that later. After our chat, I decided to check out his blog for a bit. He posted this video on there and it was the best video about Network Marketing that I think I have ever seen.

One of the biggest selling points of a home based business is the System! S-Y-S-T-E-M, Save Yourself Time, Energy and Money. It’s already in place to ensure your success, or at least make it a bit easier for you to succeed. It brings in the all too familiar term, “turnkey.” It’s all about duplication and making things easier for the newest person in the company to get into profit quickly, or duplicate their Enrollers results.

Parts of the system includes scripts, lead generation and pre-built websites, so that when somebody finds your turnkey website, pre-populated with content and pictures, they can submit their contact information. That information then goes into a lead management system that sends out pre-written auto-responders that drip bits and pieces of motivational information about their decision to start a home business.

MY SECOND BIGGEST MISTAKE…..I didn’t build my list and USE it properly.

For the first few years as a network marketer I used their turnkey websites and systems to generate my leads and I allowed those leads to go into their pre-built lead management systems. I took on the belief that once I called that lead and introduced the business to them, whether they got started with me or not, that their information was then useless. The lead was then dropped and I paid it no more attention, at least when it came to continued marketing.

I might as well have been throwing twenty dollar bills down the toilet!!

Although I made my profit from the sale, I missed out on continued, residual profits that can and will come from building your email list. I let tens of thousands of email addresses go to waste….Email addresses for people who were desperate for information on how to make money from home!

A huge part of creating an online presence(Part of my first mistake) is setting yourself up to win regardless. Having a contact form on your site that sends the information captured(email, phone number etc..) into an auto-responder system of YOUR OWN, is where it’s at. You wonder how people can make millions of dollars online with a blog and how network marketers can have continued success regardless of the opportunity they are part of. It’s because the real money, the real income comes from continually marketing to your list of subscribers….people that have opted into YOU and what you have to offer them. And if what you have to offer them is of value…..well….that equals income for you.

Right now, I use AWeber for building my list. In my opinion, it is the best one out there. I did a post a while back on starting an email marketing campaign comparing a few other services. Feel free to check it out.

And feel free to subscribe to my emails to see how I do things. You’ll find the form on the left side of this blog.

So I think my point was made. Do it right the first time. Build the list!