As a child, all I ever wanted to do was grow up, fall in love, have a family and be a stay-at-home mom.  No other option had ever entered my mind.  Yes, I went to school.  Yes, I excelled in the secretarial field.  I was even hired “off the street” as the secretary to the Vice President of a major clothing company.  Not too shabby of a feat for an 18 year old!  I was VERY good at typing (140 words per minute on an IBM Correctible Selectric!) and my shorthand skills ran rings around any other secretary that I knew!  Ok, so that was in the mid ‘70s and I am not sure they even produce “shorthand tablets” anymore.  But the corporate scene did not thrill me at all.  Although I did my best, I just was never really “there” in mind and spirit.  Well I did get married, had four children and considered my life idyllic as a stay-at-home mom.
 
So fast forward 30 years…my husband was and still is in the corporate world, but through the years added additional income to our family by owning and operating a small hobby store with his brother.  So besides the everyday grind of a 9 – 5, there were the nights and weekends of building that business.  Not to mention the Toy Shows we worked and traveled to on the weekends with one, two or even all four kids in tow.  It was not easy and put a heavy strain on the marriage and the kids sometimes.

Besides the time it took to develop, there was the expense of the overhead and inventory, the time consuming paperwork and employees.  Well, the employees were family members, but still trying to coordinate and count on everyone was not an easy task.

I must say the extra money afforded us many things other young families did not have…a paid off home, a small condo on a lake, a boat, new cars, and the kids not wanting for anything.  But it was all at the expense of trading time for money.  When you have all of those things are just things unless you have the time to enjoy them.

After the many years of doing that, but always keeping my mind and options open for something else to come along, my mom had introduced me to the Direct Selling Industry.  Yep, we got to buy a ton of merchandise and schlep it to other people’s home to put on presentations…through rain, or snow or the gloom of night!  Mom was a great presenter and I was an awesome “roadie,” but that really is work.

Along came the wonders of Network Marketing.  I had been introduced to a product that was suppose to aide me in my few discomforts of an aging body.  I was desperate to try anything, so I did and much to my surprise I was beginning to feel better.  I never really looked at the Network Marketing Industry and believed it to be a sort of a scam.  But BOY WAS I WRONG. 

It was actually nothing I was doing different then hauling all of that merchandise around and sharing what the merchandise could do to change the “feel” of their home, but this time all I had to do was to build a business was use a little bit of the product and share with others how they two can build a home based business do the same thing.  Without having to constantly buy things I didn’t want, drag them all over the place “doing shows” and then ordering, receiving, packing and delivering!

I believe that Network Marketing is without a doubt one of the few industries in which an individual can become financially independent and build a large sales organization with very little overhead, no paperwork, no inventory and no employees, when compared to 'brick and mortar' alternatives.

What is the greate thing, is that now I realize we could have had all of those things with building a business in only a few hours a week leaving the rest of the time to enjoy them and the family.

Many people who begin a Network Marketing business forget the importance of the word 'network'. The path to success in this business model is to build a team organization and you receive commissions for building that team and introducing them to the business opportunity. There are a few different terms for this role as you build your business, but the one that is widely accepted is Sponsor. You are sponsoring people into the business opportunity.

This type of business model is a numbers game, pure and simple. You have to keep expanding your network, assessing the people in it and deciding if someone is worth approaching.  It is a people helping people business.  However, not all people will understand or even accept the concept of Network Marketing so you must learn to accept the “No’s” and move on to the next.  Remember, you are building your business with like-minded people who you do not have to convince that the business opportunity you are offering will give them the things they desire.

You can build your network either offline or online or maybe a mixture of both. The process normally involves the person you are sponsoring agreeing to buy the product you are representing. This then gives them the right to market the product/service they purchased and receive a commission on a sale and/or receive a commission for each person who decides to become a business owner doing the same as you.
The key to success is your marketing approach. Many people starting in network marketing have never actually been involved in sales or marketing before. This is where the quality of training offered by the opportunity is the key to your and their success.

What you have to realize and must know is that you are NOT marketing the product. You are marketing YOU.  If the business opportunity or your potential Sponsor cannot demonstrate to you they are experienced at training you how to market you then you are in trouble. You can still make a suitable income selling the products of a company - that's direct sales as opposed to network marketing. However, the real money is in leverage. You create a team of motivated business owners who can each then go on to create a team of motivated business owners themselves.

So, yes, if you love the product that is being introduced to you and you only want to sell the product as retail that is ok, but again I will repeat; the real money and road to time freedom and financial security is in the leverage of people who understand that being in this business is just taking the product and finding a few key other people to take the product and for them to find a few key people.  Remember, it is not about selling the product, but rather it is about people helping people build their team.

If you have 8-10 hours a week to devote to building your business, if you have a desire to help people achieve their dreams, if you are willing to commit for a minimum of six months to learn how to build your business, then network marketing may be the perfect business for you.