Open your email inbox and you will read dozens of email that promise fame and fortune today. Well maybe not fame but lots of fortune. No one will tell you the ugly truth about your MLM Home-based Business, until today. Here are the 10 ugly truths about MLM Home-Based Business.
You will not make money over night. There I said it. The secret is out. No matter what you hear from the hype on the Internet you can’t make serious money over night. Your income from sponsors or affiliate links is depended upon someone else buying the product just like you did. While you may have made the decision quickly most people don’t. Allow time for your business to grow. How much time depends on how much action you take.
You need to work harder than the average Joe. Lets face it if Internet marketing were easy than 97% of people doing it would succeed. But it is the opposite. You will need to work harder than 97% of the people out there doing their own MLM Home-Based Business. Fortunately for you that is not very hard since most people give up after 30 days.
Marketing training is the key to success. Joining your MLM business is not the end of your learning, but only the beginning. You must become a student of marketing and your business. You are marketing You, Inc. The better you do that the more success you will have. If you come from a marketing background you have a jump on everyone, if you don’t you will need to get to work.
Focus on one marketing strategy until mastered before trying another. There are some many marketing strategies that work on the Internet that you can lose your focus and begin to jump from one strategy to another. Pick one that appeals to you and focus on that strategy until you master it. You can continue learning about other strategies but keep you focus and marketing dollars on the one until you get at least 20 to 50 leads per day from it.
You will need to pick-up the telephone. Yes you will need to talk to people. You are building a team and you are the leader. You can’t lead from behind the curtain. You need to establish a relationship with your prospect. The better you are at talking to people on the phone the more success you will have.
Test your marketing and record the results. You need to constantly test your marketing copy and the results it brings. Keep good records so you can see how your marketing is doing. Use tracking codes and subdomains to track how well a particular copy does.
You must the right mindset. You need a winning mindset. You must be positive about your business so you can help others. Looking at the world of abundance will free your mind to think in terms of giving before receiving. You want to grow your business but that can only truly happen when you help others grow their business.
Have a marketing plan. You need a road map to your success and a marketing plan is that map. Layout what marketing strategy you will use, what copy, budget and expected results. Then monitor your plan and adjust it as needed until you get results.
You need a mentor. Everyone needs someone they can go to with questions or concerns about their business. Someone who has been in the trenches and can help you over the rough patches.
Never quit and you will always win. If you never quit then you will always win, timing is the only question. Consistent, persistent action everyday until you win. Not giving up when after 3 months or 6 months or 12 months. Working until you succeed.
You can’t start a MLM Home-Based Business and expect to have riches pour in the following week without taking massive action. Sorry, I purchase too many of those programs only to find out that I needed to learn a new marketing technique and implement my own plan. Whatever your MLM business is learn it backwards and forwards. Become an expert in it and market yourself as an expert that can help others in their business. Take these 10 ugly truths and make them a part of your business and you will succeed.
10 Ugly Truths About MLM Home-Based Businesses
Auction Listings Are Vital to the Success of Fundraising Auctions
Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:
An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.
If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.
Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.
After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:
Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.
A Case Study
Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.
Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.
Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.
I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.
There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.
According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?
As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.
When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.
While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.
So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:
The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.
Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.
If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.
When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.
And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.
3 Ways to Build Your Home Based Business Opportunity
Where are all the good people? I often get asked this question when new people first join me in a home based business opportunity. You see, we have been conditioned to follow the pack and do what everyone else is doing, even if its the wrong strategy. I see many leaders preach about duplication and follow along on how they made their fortune in network marketing. The problem with that strategy, is what worked well for them, may in fact not work well for you.In today’s article, I will outline 3 areas of where you can go to find and locate good quality people. Many people are probably familiar with the first two areas, but not necessarily realize the advantages of organic search results, especially if you are just starting out.1. Warm Market – Is this still a good way to build?We have all heard the stories about making a list of 25 or 50 people that you know, get some training and start calling them to build your home based business opportunity quickly. Hey, I am the first to suggest doing this only if you feel comfortable doing so. That may be a contradiction to the super star network marketers advice, but here me out.Let me repeat, call your warm market (circle of influence) if you are OK doing so. If you are not, then you will need to explore other effective ways to build your home based business. The fact is, you will likely utilize a variety of methods to build your business opportunity anyways. I am just tired of the 1 approach fits all mentality to this business. I am still in the trenches day in and day out. Over the years, I have found that I no longer want to approach too many of my friends. Its a personal choice, but one you should consider as you build a business.2. Social Networking Sites – Are they effective?Several years ago, I reached out and started working the social networking sites. I really knew little about the process and wanted to make sure before I tried building my home based business opportunity by this method, that I understood the rules and how to maximize my time. What I learned over time, you should never try and sell something to someone in social networking sites. It is far better to get to know people, make friends and in time, people will ask you what you do.I have seen too many people try and come in, make up a MySpace, Twitter or Facebook page only to fail. The problem is there approach. Their home page is a like an advertising billboard. Most people ignore them because they have become conditioned seeing them all the time. If you want to stand out, build a nice profile, without all the in your face approach and reach out daily to make friends. In the course of a year, you could have several hundred close contacts and some may even join you in your business.3. Organic Search Results – What is this all about?In the past couple of years, I had a desire to finally start learning about driving traffic to my websites via organic search results. The problem was I didn’t know, what I didn’t know. So after searching around, I found some good people to educate me on the fine art and science of SEO. You see, I believe this is by far the best strategy overall for my situation. But there are some really good reasons for it.During the past 10 years, I have been involved in a few home based business opportunities. I really never made a lot of money, but I certainly learned a tone of skill sets by some great mentors. The problem was after I made a decision to leave, I had to start over. Well, I’m tired of starting over each time and decided that if I went with another company, I would build my home based business much differently this time.I wanted to only build by organic search results. You see, what happens in 2 years down the road if the company I am currently involved in goes bankrupt, they change the compensation plan or I simply decide this is not a good fit for me. Well, what do I do if I build the traditional ways. You got it, I am left to start over yet again.So this time, via search engine optimization (SEO), I have decided that no matter what happens with Company A in the future, by having my websites at the top of the search engines, I will always be able to make money in a home based business. If Company A goes under, all I need to do is look for another company that I like, change the links on my websites and within a short period of time, I am back in business because of traffic coming to my website.Each of us has to decide what methods we should use to build our particular home business. For many people, they enjoy the one on one interactions, doing home parties and building by traditional methods. Hey, that’s OK with me too. Many people are choosing to go online and look for ways to make money. You need to take some time, educate yourself and understand there are pros and cons for each method. No matter which method you choose, understand it will likely take 2 to 4 years before you make any serious money. None of the methods are instant wealth creation methods, but rather long term viable options.Make it a great day,Darrell Lischka