Make a skill checklist first and then compare it with ours.

You know you’re an MLM potential if you :
– Are opportunistic. No, it’s not a dirty word associated with crows and cougars. If you look it up, an ‘opportunist’ is actually an entrepreneur, a pioneer and an investor and yes, that means you.

You should be able to recognize an opportunity before it hits you. If you’ve decided to embark on an MLM venture, then you must have the talent to know opportunity. But as you go along, opportunities will come and go, some of them unrecognized and untapped and they could be in the form of a potential customer.

When you’re just gunning for the big closure, then it’s easy to hard-sell. But in the heat of the moment, you fail to notice if you’re actually getting the point across or just wasting your breath. Some people are born nice and you might be talking to some of them right now. They could be nodding and saying ‘yes, that’s great’ but maybe they’re just too polite to say no and walk away.

Learn to ‘read’ an opportunity. MLM is about building a sustainable business peopled by individuals who recognized an opportunity and know how to sell it. You don’t want to work with robots or zombies now, would you?
– Network. Have more than one relationship. In MLM, this is a must. You can’t just attempt to build a network with just one person even if that person had ten thousand friends in five countries. Remember that old adage about putting your eggs in one basket? That applies to MLM as well.
– Have excellent communication skills.

Study your gestures, modulate your voice, write and rewrite your articles and press releases. Practice everything and don’t just leave things to chance. Talking and writing are skills that everyone has, but not all of us can get our message across effectively.
– Have supervising skills. Know your left as well as your right. One of your skills must be knowing how to oversee and manage a group and not just the people who have direct contact with you, but the people who are in direct contact with them.

Ask to talk to your people’s contact and know who they are, what they do, how they view the product and how they plan to sell. Knowing the kind and number of people you have under you will help you plan better and gauge your success meter more accurately.
– Have genuine interest. Nobody succeeded in an MLM venture without enthusiasm, or in anything else, for that matter. MLM is about selling a product and how can you effectively convince someone of its benefits if you yourself are pessimistic about its potentials?

If you want to build strong MLM alliances, then you should truly like working with people. You will be spending hours in discussions and sales briefing with them so you better like being there. If you’re just in it for the money and attempt to bulldoze everything in your path to get to the bank, then don’t even think of starting an MLM network. You’ll be exposed and you’ll hate yourself for it.
– Have leadership. Which means going in first and taking the bullet before anyone else. It doesn’t seem pretty, but it has its rewards. Being a leader means you know what to do in a given situation and how best to do it. If right now you have the beginnings of fear in the pit of your stomach, then you might want to think twice about MLM.

You can learn how to handle fear and turn it into an advantage. Focus your fear on failure and you’ll hate to fail. You and your team will work harder than anyone else because you’re scared of not making it. Being a leader means that you know your weaknesses but you acknowledge that they can be overcome.
– Self-imposed brakes. Know when to talk and for how long. mlm is about convincing people about your product and you will be talking or writing about your product for hours at a time. If you’ve had some previous sales experience, notice how you learn to filter your sales talk as you go along?

This also happens when you’re trying to build a network or actually selling the product to potential customers. It’s tempting to talk on, especially when you’re enthusiastic, but learn to listen to your customer. Ask them questions and listen to what they have to say. You are better able to target their needs better if you listen more than tell.
– Honesty. MLM has had its share of flak because of some unscrupulous business practice from individuals who were just looking to scam someone out of their hard-earned money. If your purpose is genuine and we’re hoping it is, you should be able to know what your product is and acknowledge what it is not.

Sometimes when a potential client shows some interest, you feel the need to talk on and on to impress him more, but too much talk can ruin the soup, so to speak. You might lose sight of your purpose and that is to tell your client the benefits of your product and why they should be interested in the first place.

Developing a skill for a successful MLM business is not like studying quantum mechanics. You’re not trying to build a rocket or the next Great Wall, you’re just trying to put up a business and if you’re in it for the long haul, then you should know your skills.

The only skill anybody was ever born with was probably knowing how to complain and even that is doubtful, since it’s usually in the form of crying and subsequently labeled as a reflex. All skills are learned. If you truly want to succeed in an MLM venture, then learn the necessary skills. If you already have them, don’t rest on your laurels and learn more. If you expect the best from your team, so would they. So you better be able to deliver.

Jaz Lai
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/are-you-ready-to-mlm-80091.html

Hello folks, this is “Seth Rubberfold” with your latest copy of “Making Money Online”. In the previous update, we went over “hyped” products, and networking a “downline” of sellers for your business. Some of the other options you have are becoming a direct seller of products, and blogging. In “Money to Be Made Online” many of the set backs you may experience can be avoided by learninf from the pros. Why not learn from their mistakes so you don’t have to waste time, energy, and money on needless failures?

Today I want to explain how you can use your sales information to your advantage. Currently the hottest trend is customer’s psychological profile. If you can create a survey of the information you have stored about your customers, companies will buy it for extremely large amounts of money, depending on the size and quality of information gathered. A great way to do this is to offer a free bonus if the customer fills out a quality of service/product survey. Design the survey to fit a certain amount and type of information.

For example, “Z Company” is interested in the demographics of people who shop online, specifically for one of the products you market, bath and beauty products. “Z Company” wants to know how many women versus men buy products of that nature online, how much the average is, how much higher paying customers income is, etc… We’re getting into some of the bigger aspects of online marketing, so I suggest you get a pre-paid legal company or network with some lawyers. Outsource a webpage for them (get someone to do it for you, and offer it to a lawyer friend), in exchange for that lawyer drafting contracts for you.

You can make your own contracts, but either way you need one. Drafts are available online, but to be on the safe side, get a lawyer. Draft a contract that specifies the exact types of information Z Company is interested in, and how much they’ll pay per hundred, or thousand of people’s information you collect. Sign the contract with them, and you’re ready to cash in. Now here’s where you double your money!

Since you have a little deal on the side, you can make an investment. This technique shouldn’t be attempted until your online store is doing fairly well (which can be accomplished by following each of the 877 tips and tricks in Money to Be Made Online). Now you sell 600 soap items a week, and 450 of them are unique. To boost your sales, offer a small bonus such as free bar of favorite soap, or $5 off shipping and handling. Attach the survey to your checkout software, and in one month you have at least a thousand items of data to sell to Z Company.

Of course in a real time scenario it’s not as easy or smooth, but once you get the hang of it, you can virtually double your income. The more your store sells, the more information you can sell. The best part about it is that you can design surveys to be completely anonymous, and have people fill it in to become a member of your site. In Money to Be Made Online there are tons of tricks that describe how to get information in non-harmful ways, without small print, spam, or dis-honesty.

On my website, I’m completely honest about everything. I let my customers know exactly where things are going. I create announcements on my main page, something along the lines of “Filling out surveys for us helps us give you more products, at a cheaper price. Z Company is willing to pay you for your ANONYMOUS information!” I’ve even calculated the amount I get per customer, and give them half or all of that little profit just so I can establish a good relationship with both Z Company and my customers. Z Company gets their information and my customers get cheaper products. In the future when I implement something else, I’ve earned, I repeat, EARNED their trust and loyalty.

That’s what it’s all about folks, honesty. That’s how you make it in the long run, and turn passive income into your full time job. That’s why I recommend you have some stable income, and some free time to work on your online businesses until they give you the chance to do it full time.

In my next article I’ll go over the next way to make money, including blogging and other little internet marketing niches. I hope you’re ready to grab your copy of “Money to Be Made Online”, and are excited to read about the ins and outs of various options you’ll have! Stay tuned for part 5.

I hope to see you in the lands of success and happiness! Until next time, bye!

Keith Londrie
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/making-money-online-vol-4-79204.html

I’ve made millions in network marketing, I’ve made millions through investments, and I’ve also lost a lot of money too. Profit from my mistakes and learn how to best invest the money you make in your MLM business.

Network Marketing professionals often ask me how to manage the profits earned from their MLM income.

Can you make more money by diversifying into investments such as stocks, bonds, real estate, etc., and have your money working for you in other areas besides an mlm business? Or would you make more money by really focusing and investing your money back into your MLM business?

There are three items to think about when answering this question for yourself.

A. What else would you do with your time?

B. What else would you do with your money?

C. What else would you do with your attention (definition: the ability or power to concentrate mentally)?

Every investment (stocks, bonds, real estate, your sister’s business) requires that you learn about it. And just the learning costs time and attention. And it is the using up of your attention that rarely gets factored into the “diversify your money” advice.

Probably what’s most important here is, the greatest amount of money you will ever lose, is that amount you will never make because of misuse of A, B, and C from above.

I was listening to a radio talk show about 10 years ago and the advice given was to “Select the top three stock market sectors based on trends. Put one-third of your investment capital in each. Wait 10 years and you should be wealthy off your passive investments.” I was making about 50 thousand dollars a month above my expenses – so I thought, “Why not?”

I chose the following sectors: Health Care, Technology, and Telecommunications. After losing about half of my money I changed to three different sectors. I looked at my portfolio today and I have lost another $11,848.78.

Don’t get me wrong; there have been times I’ve made over $50,000 dollars in the stock market in a day. Fun! And there have been times I’ve lost $150,000 dollars in a day. Not fun.

In addition to that, I’ve spent an enormous amount of time on my “passive” investments. Many hours (per week) have gone into “pondering” (wasting item C from above) what the stock market is going to do next. Reading newsletters, magazines, newspapers, watching the stock market news and commentaries on TV. And still my return has been negative.

The only thing that has remained very stable and predictable is my network marketing income. Had I taken the same amount of money, roughly $500,000 and invested it into promoting my MLM home-based business would I have had a greater return? Yes.

So what about the “Rich Dad Poor Dad” philosophy of “Buy assets that produce more income?” Or the more common way it’s stated, “Create multiple streams of income?”

As you may know, I created a prospecting tool based on that philosophy where I explain to prospects how wealth is created by investing in assets. So I’m very close to this subject.

However, if you listen closely to the way I stated it in the online movie, I say, “So what are assets? Well the most obvious ones are: stocks, bonds, real estate…” Then I say, “…education and businesses.” And to that I’m referring to educating yourself about businesses. Whether that be your MLM home-based business or your pinball machine business.

Two common mistakes in making decisions on A, B,and C from above are:

1. Making decisions based on now vs. decisions based on future. Of course you need to pay your bills now. They’re screaming at you! But keep in mind what I talk about in Brilliant Compensation – it’s not faster (in the long run) to tie your young son’s shoes than teaching him how to do it himself. If you tie his shoes for him you silence the screaming urgency, but you’re still stuck with the job UNTIL you teach him to tie his own shoes. When you make financial decisions make sure you’re looking at the long-term. Residual income that can be generated from an MLM business is sweet.

2. Making decisions based on “could you” instead of what you “will you” do with your time, money or attention. Example: A guy determines that it’s a poor use of his time and attention to mow his own yard, so he hires the boy down the street to cut his grass. Now, what does he do with that extra time (A), and the extra attention (B)? He watches TV. Bad choice. When he was making the decision to hire the lawn boy he thought, “It’s a waste of my time to mow the grass when I could be doing more important things like building my MLM business.” Make sure when you free up any of the three resources you use them wisely.

Summary: My personal opinion is invest your time, money and attention into KNOWING your MLM home-based business and getting really good and profitable at it. Find and study MLM training that is proven and effective, and master it.

Continually reinvest your profits back into your network marketing business by promoting it more, that’s where the high return is. When you have a surplus of income, buy a secure investment like Treasury Bills, until you’re ready to learn another business FULLY. By business I’m including all investment activities as well. Then focus your time, money and attention (from the surplus only) on knowing THAT business.

From my experience, diversifying my money has done nothing more than dissipated my focus, which has in turn lost a lot of money, time, and attention.

Tim Sales
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/mlm-training-when-to-develop-multiple-streams-of-income-71584.html

So, are you thinking about joining a MLM program but are unsure whether joining such will pay off in the long run? You may have heard of many of your friends drop out from MLM because they have not been able to generate any sales or have not been very successful in the networking business. Or you may have heard of another friend preach the wonders of their MLMs and show off their new found riches from such. If you are wondering which one of the two you will be, read on to find out the pros and cons of MLM’s.

1. Your own pace- MLMs allow you to work at your own pace. Add the fact that when you have built up a formidable downline, you can pretty much sit back and watch the coins cling in the bank. If you have the gift of gab and have a great network of charismatic friends, your potential downline can be very impressive.

2. Potential exponential increase in income- In network marketing or multi-level-marketing, your success depends on being able to a good downline, or a network of agents under you by certain degrees. These agents will also generate sales and try to recruit other agents. The more the number of has an exponential effect on the number of people who know about the product and buy the product as well. Aside from getting great discounts on the items you sell, you also get a commission from your downline.

3. Meeting more people- MLM will require you to meet new people and create new contacts. This is not only great for you social life. It also opens up new vistas for future possible projects. One point that would be best remembered is that business start from contacts. If you know the people to talk to, you are in a better position to start a business. You could even start a business while your MLM cranks in the cash for you. That would mean extra income and a more fulfilling earning lifestyle.

4. Risk- On the flip side, there are risks involved when engaging in mlm‘s. It is easy to make projections at great income and a more luxurious lifestyle when you make a few assumptions such as my agents will recruit more agents,or I will sell more products. These are big ifs. What if the agents you recruit all back out or quit the MLM scheme. That would leave you with no downline and you would be back to zero and scribbling on the drawing board once again.

To avoid this you will have to choose your agents carefully. Recruit those who are go-getters and persevere at the endeavors. Choosing agents haphazardly has the same effect as virtually mothballing your own chances at a successful MLM career.

5. Sales are also dependent on the product the lifeline of some MLMs is the intriguing possibility that the people you recruit could earn money as well. It is a bit difficult if the only draw to you product is the fact that your customers could earn as well. Some products are a harder sell than most and hawking such products could very well spell the doom of your MLM career. Make sure you choose a company whose products you can believe in, and in whose quality you can vouch for, sales will come naturally.

6. Possibility of Overconfidence there is a reason why some wise man (or woman) coined the term counting your eggs before they hatch.Unreasonable expectations are a leading cause of agent withdrawal and discouragement. If you can keep your expectations small and steadily work up toward loftier goals, you are on the right track!

Conclusion

In all, MLM is not a surefire way to gain instant riches, but it is the closest you’ll ever get to it. A little hard work, perseverance and dedication will go a long way on your path to MLM success. Although there are risks involved in joining an MLM program, if you keep your expectations real and work hard towards your goal and make friends along the way, you are sure to find the find the road success.

Shane Woods
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/mlm-pross-cons-78645.html