The MEGA MLM Report

THE MEGA MLM REPORT: Why MLM may be your best choice for a home based business By Mike Rutkowski Let me cut right to the chase. Network Marketing / MLM / Multi-Level Marketing, whatever you want to call it, is simply the one of the two quickest ways to incredible riches that is available to the most people. (The way I work the business, I also benefit from the other way, but more on that later.) I know people that have created tremendous, ongoing wealth by building up sizable businesses with a network marketing company. Income that was created over a one to two year time span in some cases, that is greater than or comparable to a high level professional income, and that comes in residually month after month. Please notice what I did NOT say though: I did not say that this can be achieved instantly, or without effort, or without learning some new ideas and skills. There are a lot of misconceptions about what MLM is really all about that cause a lot of people to give up and quit, or never even try in the first place. I’m going to clear all of that up in this report for you, so you don’t make the same mistakes, or at least get a quick education on the topic. Another important point is that not everyone is seeking to be filthy rich, living on a tropical island somewhere in a mansion or something, and that is o.k. What ever level of income you are looking to achieve, you can create that wealth through the vehicle of network marketing. But a warning, if you are looking for a “get rich quick” scheme, that you get more out of than you put into it, STOP RIGHT NOW. There IS no such thing as a “get rich quick” scheme that works. And that is not something you want to perpetuate on others anyway. If you are a positive, driven, and somewhat outgoing person willing to learn and put forth some consistent effort, and can be focused on truly assisting others achieve what they are looking for, then you’ve found your home. A great side effect to this business is personal development, but more on that later. What I am going to do with this report is cover: • What MLM is • Why it is so powerful • How it is misunderstood • What you need to look for when joining a company and a team • I’ll also cover the common pitfalls to avoid, so that you get started with the right expectations and the right mindset. • What you need to have in order to succeed. • I’ll briefly touch on the 8 different methods that you should use to build your business. The 8 methods will be discussed in much greater detail in a separate report. If you’ve been involved with network marketing before, you’ve certainly been exposed to some of these, but I can almost guarantee not all 8. Most sponsors only teach the first one or two and don’t know any more than that themselves. © 2008 Mike Rutkowski The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski What is MLM? MLM, or Network Marketing, is simply a different method of distributing goods or services than we are commonly used to. Typically, we purchase goods at retail locations. In that model, the retail store owners buy the products at wholesale, and sell them to us at a markup. The markup includes all of the fixed costs they have, such as renting or leasing the store, utilities, paying employees, advertising, etc. In addition to that, of course, is profit. The more layers there are between the manufacturer of the product and you, the more the ultimate price will be to cover the expenses and profits of the various middlemen. Typically, only 20 to 50% of the cost represents the actual manufacture of that product, and in some cases even less than that. There is nothing wrong with that, it is simply how the business works. Network Marketing works differently. Replacing the various middlemen and retail store owners are “distributors”. These distributors simply refer others to order the product directly from the manufacturer, in this case a network marketing company. The distributors receive a commission in exchange for any products sold. Beyond that, they can be paid commissions from sales of products purchased not just by people they personally referred, but also by the people they referred, etc, and on down many levels. In this method, all of the expenses of the retail store owner are removed. Instead, the only additional cost of the product is from the commissions that are paid out. In effect, from the point of view of the company, those commissions are its advertising expense. In this way, network marketing products are generally of a higher quality than similar products purchased in a retail store, if there even are similar products. Generally what a network marketing company will do is take the savings earned from eliminating the retail store costs, and reinvest that back into the production of their goods. In this way, they can ensure that they are providing the highest quality goods. Several other advantages to the network marketing company that help to make it financially sound are that it can precisely control its “advertising” expenses through its compensation plan to distributors. And, of course, it is only paying out commissions when products are actually sold, and not until then. These features help to reduce financial risks to the company in general and make them quite stable, which is a great benefit for us, but you still must be selective in how you choose a company to get involved with. (I’ll talk about that more later.) That, in a nutshell, is what MLM is. Why MLM is So Powerful As I just mentioned, the way that network marketing is structured is good for the company making the stuff, but it is GREAT for everyday people. Because of the way that the commission structure is designed, you have the potential to earn very large, leveraged, residual income. Of course, not everyone earns millions, but because of the RESIDUAL www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 2 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski nature of the commissions, even smaller earnings can be life changing or at least enhancing. Let’s take a closer look at the reason for this. First, commissions are earned not simply on the first purchase that someone makes, but on ALL future purchases as well. If the product (or service) is consumable, and purchased automatically every month, then you are paid, automatically, every single month. In this way, you earn leverage on your own work, because you will be paid repeatedly, for many months or years, on the work you did in the past to refer an interested person to the company’s product(s). (By the way, a consumable product or product line is a MUST when looking for a company to join. I’ll discuss that more shortly.) The even more impactful form of leverage you get is that you can be paid commissions off of the efforts of others. (Don’t EVER think of them as your workers though! Distributors are a volunteer army, and can come and go as they please. In fact, this is a common mistake that people make that I will discuss later. When you sponsor someone into an MLM company, you are doing it so that YOU can go to work for THEM, not the other way around!) As an example, if you sponsor Sue, and she sponsors Dave, and he sponsors Pat, and Pat sponsors a Jeff, and Jeff quickly becomes a superstar who sponsors hundreds of people, and each one of them sponsors a person, and everyone buys some products every month, YOU can be paid commissions on all of those sales! All you did was sponsor Sue and support her and the growing group below her. Now, the beauty of the system is that none of those people are your employees. They do NOT work for you, they work for themselves. They may simply be product users and not interested in building a business at all. Or, they may be building a small side business to earn part-time income to help with the bills. And a few of them, a few of them will be going all the way, and building up a full-time plus professional income, to create the lifestyle of their dreams. And that, simply put, will allow YOU to live the life of your dreams. Rather than employees, you are working with business owners. Your role is to help them as much as you possibly can, so that everyone can achieve the level of success they are looking for. One misunderstanding about MLM that is very common is that people mistakenly believe doing the business is about "selling". Yes, products are moved, but that is not how you become successful in this business. You become successful by coaching and teaching people, NOT by selling to them. The whole point of distributing products through a network is that people refer others, who refer still others. The point is NOT simply to "sell" to as many people as you can. If you just try to talk the wrong people into the business, you’ll just end up trying to talk them into staying. (As a prior landlord, it was difficult at times for me to get people to pay their own RENT; I can’t imagine trying to get someone who doesn’t want to build a business!!) www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 3 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski Your role is to match people that are looking for a change in their lives, who are looking for a legitimate opportunity in order to take their financial future into their own hands, with the business you've chosen. And then, to help them achieve what they are looking for through the opportunity. I'll talk more about this in the next section. For now, just remember that teachers have one of the highest success rates in the industry, and salespeople have the lowest. One additional comparison to be made here is to the real estate industry. In that industry, the owner of a real estate company or branch, known as the broker, will have agents. They train the agents, provide office space and other administration services, and likely lead sources or some form of advertising. In exchange, they earn a percentage of the agents' commissions. In this way, the industry sounds similar to how network marketing works. However, there is nothing to stop the highly motivated (and probably some of the most productive) agents from leaving and starting their own company or branch of a competing company just down the street. They might even take some other agents with them. In this way, the broker in some cases ends up training their future competition! This is not how networking works. With network marketing, an "agent" would never have a reason to leave (unless they wanted to join another company for some reason, or just flat out quit), because their sponsor is not earning a portion of their own commissions. Each person is simply earning what they are due based on the compensation plan. Furthermore, the sponsor doesn't have to fear that their distributors will try to go somewhere else in the company or leave altogether to become competition, so they can teach all their best stuff and support as much as possible. It is in your sponsor's best interest to succeed as much as possible. And THAT is a powerful aspect of the business that is just not found anywhere else. Everyone truly works together. How MLM is Misunderstood Network Marketing has gotten a bad rap and is misunderstood by many people, for a number of reasons. The perceptions are starting to improve though, as more and more people continue to find financial success through this industry, at one level or another. I want to cover these with you now so that you have a better understanding should you choose to get involved with a company. If you haven't heard these objections and misunderstandings yet, you surely will hear these from someone. The main reason that MLM has in some people's minds a dubious reputation is that people get excited about all the money they are going to make, get almost no training, and then run around over-hyping the product or opportunity to everyone they know. They talk to people that really have no business being in business for themselves anyway (this ISN'T for everyone), get discouraged quickly, and then quit. At that point, they tell everyone how this business doesn't work or is an outright scam (to rationalize their lack of success), and spread a bad message. The sad thing is, with just a little bit of education, specific training, the right mindset, and some planned, consistent action, this never had to happen. Unfortunately, a lot of that is missing when people get started, so they never really have a chance. www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 4 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski The “failure” rate in MLM is another misunderstanding to be clear about too. Truly, no one “fails” in MLM, they simply quit before they are good enough to succeed. The “quit” rate is really what we are talking about, and to be sure, it is high. I’ve seen studies that talk about the rate being as high as 90% (although that may be including some product users that didn’t have an interest in building a business.) If people came into the business with their eyes open, their reason for being involved clearly defined, with reasonable expectations, with a truly workable business-building strategy, and joined a solid company, I’m sure that rate would be much lower. Just for comparison though, I’ve also heard that something like 60% of real estate agents quit before they ever helped to buy or sell even one house. People quit just about every endeavor in large numbers before they succeed, that is just the way it is. Of course, there have also been some bad companies out there as well. Either poorly managed, without a truly good product, or even an outright scam. That doesn't help the image of the industry for the people that are exposed to it, certainly. But ultimately, network marketing is simply a method for distributing goods, just like retail stores. Aren't their some great retail stores, and some that are not so great? If you went into a shadylooking store and weren't happy with the experience, would you declare that all retail establishments are no good, and never go into another store again? Of course not, yet that is what some people do with network marketing. Probably the biggest misconception with the business though, is that it is actually illegal. People confuse illegal pyramid schemes with legitimate MLM companies. Let me dispel this misunderstanding right now for you, once and for all. When you hear pyramid, think "chain mail". That is the basic setup: everyone that joins pays a fee that goes "upline". In that illegal scheme, people can actually make money, but only the ones that get in first at the top. As more and more people come in, the entry fees flow up to the top. People that come in later will get paid by those that come in after them. But, the only way to keep the system going is to bring in more and more people. Once you run out of people, the whole thing collapses. In this setup, there doesn't even have to be a product. Or, there can be a product, but one that is really more of a front than anything else. Either the product is dramatically over-priced, has almost no real value, or a significant portion of the earnings are paid from the entry fee itself and not product sales. (Incidentally, this pretty much describes the social security system in the U.S. as it currently exists.) In a legitimate networking opportunity, none of these features exist. There will be a nominal fee to join, but this will cover the cost of an introductory kit and other support systems, and no commissions will be earned on that. There will be a quality product, competitively priced, and the only commissions earned will be from actual product sales. (Note that in a solid company, the quality of the products will be exceptional, and possibly not even available through retail stores, so price comparisons must be made carefully.) Further, the compensation plan structure will reward productivity in a fair way, so that the people "at the top" don't necessarily make the most money. It should be possible for you to www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 5 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski be sponsored by someone, and based on your productivity you can out-earn your sponsor, even though they do share in your production. As I mentioned before, this is a business of teaching and coaching, NOT selling. What we do as network marketers is find people that have a need or a want to make additional income beyond what they are currently earning, and get them information about the opportunity we have, and help them make the best decision for them. If it is a good fit, then we help to train them and get them the education they need to do this process themselves. Additionally, of course, we inform people that can benefit from our product(s) about what we have. That is really it. Because some people either join out of desperation, feeling that they need additional IMMEDIATE income, or out of unreasonable expectations, thinking they’ll be making $10,000 a month after a few months, they approach the business, and other people, in the wrong way. They are pushy, and very “in your face”, thinking that that is the right approach to take, since that is likely what they are taught from their sponsors. In these cases, they are approaching this more from what is in it for them, rather than what your benefit is and why you should join them. Basically, they think you should join, so that they can be rich. Needless to say, this is the absolute wrong approach, and I teach a very different way. With a lack of proper education and training on the business, people may think that this is the right, or even the only possible, approach. This business can simply never be done effectively out of desperation, fear, or greed. When approaching this business, we must always be looking to add value to other people, and be looking out for them with their interests in mind. If we go from that direction, no one needs to feel alienated, or “sold”. This is all about looking for people that are looking, and then getting the right information to them, while building or strengthening a mutually beneficial relationship. We NEVER need to approach strangers, or people that we happen to know but are simply not a good fit for the business. I.e., we simply DON’T have to “bug” friends or family. We rather look for partners to join us, people that we CHOOSE to work with (another great benefit of this business!) That may include certain friends or family if we choose, but it doesn’t have to. Another misunderstanding is that people jump in with unrealistic expectations about the speed at which they can earn substantial income and the level of effort on their part required to attain it. In other words, they come in with a “get rich quick” mentality. This is a business, and simply put it will require some time to learn about the business, the product, and marketing strategies. An important side benefit is that you will also learn to improve yourself, your own thinking and communication skills, and generally become more effective in life no matter what your particular pursuits are. (There aren’t many other businesses that you could honestly say self-improvement is a side effect of doing them!) What I want to stress here is to not only come in with realistic expectations, but to know that there are going to be some obstacles you’ll have to overcome to be successful, and be prepared to face them when the time comes. Create a game plan, and have the patience, persistence, and audacity to stick to it www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 6 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski until you achieve what you set out to achieve, whether that is $1,000 per month or $100,000 per month. One last point I want to mention here is how people don’t really grasp how valuable residual income is. Here is a quick example so that you can see exactly what I’m talking about: Let’s say you are making $200 per month consistently, in a residual (i.e., you no longer have to work for it actively) way. Many people would not get very excited about that, it probably doesn’t even cover a car payment completely. Some might even quit in frustration if they feel they are “stuck” there. Let’s look at how much value is really here though: $200 per month = $2,400 per year. If you wanted to have enough cash sitting in a money market account to kick off $2,400 worth of interest (which is basically what you have here), what would you need? (And I’m talking about an FDIC insured account!) If we assumed that we were earning 5% interest, you’d need $2,400 / .05 = $48,000! With that fairly conservative assumption, your MLM earnings are really equal to $48,000 sitting in a bank account! That sounds a lot better, doesn’t it? Especially if it only took you say a few months of work to get to that point. So, if after 3 months you are making $200, DON’T BE! Would you work for 3 months part-time in order to earn $48,000? I know I would! What You Need to Look for When Joining a Company and a Team Now that we’ve covered the most common misunderstandings of MLM, that in many cases prevents people from really taking a serious look at a potentially life-changing opportunity, let’s discuss what you should be looking for. There are several key things you want to look for when joining a company, and several key things to look for when joining a particular team of a company. With regards to the company, you want to be look at these elements: management, product(s), company history, and the compensation plan Regarding the management, you want to know who they are, what they’ve been involved with in the past, and what their track record is. You also want to make sure their heart is in the right place. People that become involved with network marketing are usually givers, whether it is the management team or independent distributors. So, look for some type of charitable foundation that they are a part of. Many times, your efforts to build a second income to help your family and help others to build for themselves will also have the great side benefit of helping others in need indirectly through these associations! www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 7 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski When looking at the company’s product or product line, you’ll want to have several questions in mind. Who is the target market for the products? Is it a growing or declining group? What is unique about the product(s)? Are the products of a very high quality? Is the benefit of the products something easy to explain, that many people will want? IS THE PRODUCT GOOD ENOUGH TO STAND ON ITS OWN? (i.e., Would I buy the product even if there were no business attached? This is a critical point.) And finally, the product(s) MUST be consumable. Many networking companies sell nutritional products, which meet this requirement perfectly, but there are numerous other businesses to choose from as well. I would personally shy away from companies that carry only non-consumable products, because as soon as a sale is made, you (or your downline) need to move on to the next sale. Essentially, it drastically reduces the lifetime value of a given customer. Health products are a great fit for this business for a number of reasons, not just because they are consumable. They are something that everyone needs, that many people want, the benefits are relatively easy to explain (say, vs. trying to explain an insurance policy!), the baby boomer generation in particular is very keen on at this time, and the market is expanding rapidly. Just look at how unhealthy so many of us have allowed ourselves to become, due to convenience, habit, and laziness, and it is easy to see the perfect fit. Taking nutritional products and supplements is a quick and easy way for people to start taking their health back, WITHOUT needing to make huge lifestyle changes. Of course, that is just the start, but we can be a part of the beginning of that process in our business. Next, I would look at the history of the company itself. How long has it existed? What are its financials? What has its growth pattern been like? How many countries is it in currently? What are its growth potentials? Again, there are a couple misunderstandings here about what size and age the ideal company should be that I need to dispel for you right now. People fall for the “ground floor opportunity” line here too often. They think that just because a company just started, if they join RIGHT NOW, they are in the best position and will basically make a fortune and live on easy street from here on out. Well, not really. What they are falling for here is “the people at the top make all of the money” routine. (Which I guess they think is bad, unless it is them on the top!) Joining a company is one thing. Having the skills, knowledge, and persistence is quite another. What does that have to do with how old or young a company is??... NOTHING! The flip side of this thinking is that you can’t join an older company, because the market is “saturated”. That is wrong again. There are many quality, mature companies that could be a great fit for someone. If you have the skills and knowledge needed to grow a business like this, as long as you have a legitimate opportunity with an in demand, quality product, you have already put yourself in the minority, and can be a success with any company. People join others that they believe can help them get what they want, they don’t care so much about the age of the company. So, the quick answer to the age of the company is: If you are getting in one the “ground floor” be extremely careful about looking at the management team and products. All things www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 8 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski being equal, if the company is a few years old and has a little history behind them, that will be better. And don’t shy away from an older company simply because of its age. If you like the potential team that you can join, and everything else looks right, go for it! Now, your experience with the exact same company can be very different depending on what team you are joining and who your sponsor is. The questions you should be asking yourself there are: Is a substantial, detailed training system in place? What type of marketing plan is available for me? (Remember, these are not only tools for you, but also for every member of your downline.) How much personal help will I get from my sponsor and the upline team? And of course, am I comfortable with my sponsor and the team? Having a system in place that includes real training and a real, detailed marketing system to follow is a HUGE benefit. (Without that, sponsoring people is really giving them another problem to deal with, not an opportunity.) Ideally, we should all be in business for ourselves, but not by ourselves. And watch out for systems that simply tell you to make a list and call everyone you know, and then have nothing else to offer. That is really NOT a marketing plan at all. Again, that can and does work for a handful of people, but the percentage is not very high at all. Even if you were one of those people, that had the confidence, a wide circle of influence, and knew the right people to build a large business that way, you’d still want a more substantial system for those coming into your downline that simply can’t build that way. Common Pitfalls to Avoid There are several pitfalls to avoid when you are getting started. Understanding these things right from the beginning will help you immensely. Either it will help you make the decision to not join this type of business in the first place if it is not a good fit for you, or it will give you advanced knowledge on what to expect and therefore increase your chances for success. Either way, you are better off in the long run. First off, realize that this is truly a business, and will take a commitment of time and energy to build. That doesn’t mean that you have to go at this 50 hours per week, many top earners began by spending just 5-10 hours per week working their business. The important thing is to consistently maintain your efforts as long as it takes. That is the mindset you have to have, “whatever it takes”. You’ll need to make some sacrifices somewhere, you’ll likely need to grow as a person throughout the process in one way or another, you will have to invest in yourself, and you will need persistence and patience. Because of all that, you need to be crystal clear on exactly WHY you are building a business. Your vision for what you want to accomplish will be the driving force that will help you get through the rough times, and without that it will be all too easy to quit. The system that I teach begins with some exercises that take you through that process, helping to define your vision. And really, anyone whose business you join should start here. And just writing down 10 things you want is NOT the answer here, just having that is a recipe for failure. www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 9 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski Once you have that compelling vision that makes you want to jump up in the morning and really gets you going, you have a motivating force always working for your favor in your subconscious. BUT, that needs to be tempered with realistic expectations too. Too many of us dream about that one person joining our downline that will just explode our business and set us financially free. That can and does happen, absolutely, but when we focus on that we really have a lottery mentality, and that is no way to build a business. WE are the driving engine for our business, focused on serving others well, and everything else will take care of itself given time. We need to do our part, expecting to work consistently as long as it will take, whether that is 6 months or 3 years, and give ourselves the time to succeed. Doing anything less than at least making a 2 year commitment is really just fooling ourselves, and really it should be longer than that. Here’s another quick example: Person A goes to school for 4 years, graduates with massive debt, and then finds a job and STARTS to make money only then. It will take many years to pay off the debt. Person B starts a network marketing business and has very little to moderate success for 3 years. Finally, in the 4th year everything comes together and they are making a sizable, residual income that pays far more than their living expenses. Four years have past, and they are financially free. Now, I’m certainly not saying to not go to school or to drop out if you are going now or anything, but just keep this in mind for an idea of the commitment level needed. And keep focused on that end result. Without that focus, it’d be hard to keep going at times. And certainly, if a particular strategy is simply not working for you, once you’ve given it a legitimate chance to work, stop that and try something new, learn some new skills, or take a different approach. You will need to overcome obstacles, know that, and deal with it when you have to. A side effect of worrying about the time that it will take to succeed, and having unrealistic expectations, is that we become overly emotional. If we sponsor someone, we are on top of the world, and we think all of our goals will be met 2 months from now, magically. If someone drops out, we are down in the dumps and ready to quit, thinking our failure is assured now. THIS IS A BUSINESS! Treat it that way, know where you are going, have a plan on how to get there, change the plan as needed, and make an absolute plan to get there, NO MATTER WHAT. Of course we can have fun on the way, and enjoy building new friendships and strengthening old ones, but thinking any one person controls our fate either way takes the power away from us and just gives it away. And you never want to do that. YOU are in control of your destiny, only you. Another aspect of this is that we can sometimes feel rejected when someone is not interested, especially a family member or friend who we thought would be a good fit. Don’t take that personally, they are turning down the opportunity, NOT you. As you continue your success, you just might find them changing tunes later down the line! www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 10 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski As a quick note here, if a close friend or family member does want to get involved, there is nothing better. I’ve had a blast with friends and family that joined, getting to learn and grow together, as well as simply spending more time with them as we traveled or brainstormed together. That being said, don’t make the mistake of being “pushy” or trying to “sell” anyone. Give people who you know that would benefit the right information to make a decision, give them the opportunity, but don’t push them away. They should be honored that you want to be in business with them, that you respect them and their opinion that much. Take that approach, and no matter the outcome, there doesn’t have to be any bad feelings. That takes me right into the next point. Sometimes people approach this from the wrong direction, thinking it is all about them and not the people they are talking to. This is DEAD wrong. It is always ALL about the other person, and how you can add value to them and help them. The benefit to you comes as a side effect of really helping others. Come into this with a servants mind, and you will be rewarded handsomely for it, both monetarily and in more friends and deeper friendships. With that being said, we all need training to some degree or another when we come into this type of business, and that is a huge positive of the business. It is a big mistake to not get that training one way or another, either hopefully from the team that you’ve joined, or seeking it on your own. And I’m not just talking about training about the products, and marketing, but also about personal development and communication. I have a separate report and recommended reading about those issues too, available as part of my system. The last two pitfalls deal with prospecting. First off, people tend to not want to talk to “successful” people they know, figuring “why would they need this, they are already successful”. Well, that really isn’t the case many times. Sure, making $200,000 a year as a lawyer is a great income, but at what cost does that come? Are they working 60, 70 hours a week? Are they getting burned out, and missing time with their family? We actually have a solution for them. The biggest advantage of network marketing is that the income is residual. Because this can be done part time and built up over time, these efforts can eventually lead to freedom from a current job or career that someone really may not want to be in any longer. Unfortunately, many of us can end up feeling trapped with no way out once we reach a certain point, not seeing a way out. The exciting thing is WE HAVE THAT WAY OUT. So, look a little deeper than just the surface level of things, you may be able to really help a friend out by showing them your opportunity. Secondly, and this is probably the biggest challenge for the largest number of networkers, people simply don’t get their opportunity in front of enough interested people. This is where having training on a marketing system really comes into play, especially after you’ve approached anyone in your warm market that could be a good fit. That is why my marketing system, which I’ll highlight briefly in a little bit, has no less than 7 ways to reach more people outside of the people you already know. Again, if your sponsor doesn’t have such marketing knowledge, you are going to be left to fend for yourself once you’ve made www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 11 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski your list. And worse, everyone downline will be in the same boat: talk to people they know, and then fend for themselves. Not much of a business model, is it? What You Need to Have in Order to Succeed Some of this will be a repeat from the prior section, but I thought it was important to include a comprehensive listing of was it takes to succeed in this industry: 1. Clear vision - If you are going to build a successful business, you need to have a vision driving you forward 2. Willingness to learn and grow, and invest in yourself – You are likely missing some of the skills needed to grow a large successful business; I know I was when I first started. That’s ok, we all start somewhere. We just have to be pro-active and get the right education and training that we need. 3. You MUST have belief in: MLM, Your Company + Product, Your Team, **Yourself** 4. You must have self-confidence 5. Desire to help others – As I said before, you really need to approach this with other people’s interest at heart. 6. Stay committed and focused – Success usually comes just after you feel like quitting, but stick with it. 7. Marketing system – Whether your team has a marketing system or training in place, or you go out and get the education you need independently, you need to market. Unless of course you are one of the few who can build 100% through the warm market. 8. Proper training - In addition to marketing, you need additional skills, such as how to keep yourself motivated and focused, and how to help coach and train others. I have a training manual on this available as well, “MLM Training System Report” 9. Strong company and great product(s) – If you don’t have a good company and products behind you, eventually your business might fail even if YOU do everything right. That is why you must be especially selective. 10. Allow yourself the freedom to fail – By this I mean allowing yourself to take action and try something new based on what you’ve learned. Not everything you do will be a stunning success, and that is ok. Just keep learning, and adjusting your tactics until you reach your goal. No one is perfect, or does everything right the first time. 11. Above all, persistence – The only way to fail is to quit. You need to work through the tough times to get to the good times. As long as you are persistent, you WILL reach your goals, the only thing you can’t control is exactly when that will happen. The Nuts and Bolts: 8 Different Methods to Build Your Business I’m summarizing the 8 different ways to build your business here. This is simply going to be a summary; the full report with all the details is available in a separate report “8 MLM Business Building Strategies”. I want to provide this outline here though so that you can www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 12 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski see that my approach is almost certainly different from what you have been taught before, if you’ve ever been exposed to networking before. I’m convinced that the reason the quit rate in MLM is so high is because of that fact. Many network marketing teams will tell you to “build a list” of EVERYONE that you can think of, and approach everyone with your opportunity. And that is the WHOLE plan! That can and absolutely DOES work for some people, but only a few percent. Most people’s “warm market” simply isn’t composed of the right number of entrepreneur-minded people to be successful this way. That is why I have a full plan laid out here, with multiple strategies to follow. YOU should pick and choose which ways are right for you, based on your goals, resources, talents, and interests. I can help you build a game plan and teach you the strategies to follow, but ultimately YOU decide how to build YOUR business. Make sense? I’m an educator, trainer, and coach, not a boss! You follow your chosen strategies to achieve what you want to get out of this. 1 Warm Market – This strategy includes getting information to everyone in your warm market (people who recognize you by name) that is a good candidate for the business. That means they are positive, outgoing to some degree, willing to learn new things and step outside the box, and are self-motivated. Grumps, couch potatoes, and closed-minded or negative people are not right for the business!! Having a large warm market themselves is a plus but not a requirement. DON’T discount “successful” people either. Local - This strategy includes people that live near you physically that you don’t yet have a relationship with. This can be a great way to build your business, but is hard to scale. (i.e., You are only going to run into so many people in a given time period that will be potential candidates.) Meeting people through meet ups (meetup.com) that share common interests is a good way to do it, as well as through other local groups and associations. You can even approach people that you don’t know, but only if there is a specific reason you have to do so, i.e. if they seem like they could be a fit based on what you’ve seen of them. Buying Leads – This is a strategy frankly to be especially careful of. You can purchase the names, emails, and in some cases phone numbers and even addresses of people that are interested in having a home-based business of their own. With the proper phone skills and a decent lead source, it is absolutely possible to build a business this way. Buying up lists of names and e-mails and sending out e-mails to them basically just won’t work anymore. And, many lead sources are dubious at best, and inconsistent at worst. It is possible to get cheap leads though, and just kind of practice on them, but these will be pretty low quality. (i.e., not very nice!) Free internet – I’m including this for completeness here. I have not done this myself yet, but there are a few methods that you can use online for free. They won’t cost money but they will cost some time to do. This would include things like using Craigslist or Free Classified ads. I do have a resource that teaches some of these methods that I will refer you to in the larger report. It is probably better to refer 13 2 3 4 www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski people to a training product with this method, rather than your opportunity directly, more on that in the next item. 5 Funded proposal – This is a great method that is missing from too many networkers’ arsenals, but the popularity is growing here. The concept here is that you advertise a solution to someone’s problem, like needing specific MLM training or a way to generate MLM leads. As some people buy the low cost products, you offset your advertising expenses. In that way, you are effectively generating leads for your business at low cost, no cost, or even a profit. The only problem is that these people are already in a business, but that means they are already sold on the industry as well. If they are in a position to want to join a new company in the future, if you build a relationship with them over time, your opportunity would be one that they would consider. This is starting to include some internet marketing concepts, so there are some possibly new skills for you to learn here. This is discussed in more detail in my full report. Article Marketing – This is a really cool strategy that you can use to both pre-sell people on YOU, as well as get free search engine traffic. This is a tried and true internet marketing strategy in which you write articles (or even outsource the writing of those articles), submit them to article directories, and that is really it. There is a strategy behind what keywords you target in the article, how to write, etc, but I won’t go into that here. That will be covered in the full report. The power to this is that at the end of each article you have a link back to your site, where the person can get even more information, leave their contact information, or buy a funded proposal item. As you stay in touch with them and develop a relationship, you have another TARGETED person to present your opportunity to, since your article will be on a related topic. Social Networks – Here I’m specifically referring to social networks like myspace, facebook, linkedin, etc., not all “web 2.0” sites. That will be covered in the next strategy. What you can do here is network through groups on topics related to your business, find people in your geographic area, form local meetups from that, and then network through their contacts for anyone that could be a fit for your product or business. (In that way, you are not “selling” them.) Of course, you can also be a doorway for them. Another strategy would be to use these sites to direct people to your blog or website, where they can get free reports (like this one) or more information. Of course, we always do this in a way that adds value to them. Note that this also even includes sites like youtube, where you can start a channel, have friends, and join groups. Any site that has a community attached is a possibility here. Again, this will be covered in more detail in my full report. Information Architect - (includes social marketing and article writing, as well as using a funded proposal) – This is the broadest, most in-depth way to go here. Involves cutting edge internet marketing, and combines that with your network marketing program as the back end. It includes using social networks and article writing as components, but also includes the greater “web 2.0” universe. Utilizing 14 6 7 8 www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski the full portfolio of community publishing sites, which includes articles, reports, community web pages, community blogs, and image, video, and audio galleries, you tie all of these together strategically, and then point these to your own blog/website, which is the heart of your business. From here, you can collect people’s contact information and follow up automatically, or get high quality reports (like this one!) into their hands. This strategy utilizes free traffic from search engines and other community sites. In addition to simply using the “funded proposal” concept to offset advertising costs, this method monetizes free traffic through many different sources, with your network marketing opportunity as the “back end”. Monetization strategies include essentially selling advertising space on your site(s) (made simple via programs like Google Adsense), promoting relevant and helpful training or educational products, and possibly even promoting your own product(s) down the line. In this way, you can make money, in some cases even residual money, even if a person DOESN’T join your primary opportunity. This strategy also utilizes opt-in e-mail marketing, but extends beyond that into newer forms of communication, like Twitter. (You can follow me on Twitter to see what it is about if you haven’t yet here.) At the beginning of this report, I talked about network marketing being one of the two quickest ways to wealth. If you haven’t guessed by now, the other is using internet marketing. As you can clearly see in the last, most advanced method of marketing that I’ve termed (my phrase) being an “information architect”, using the internet in the most cutting edge way possible is the heart of the method. The internet has been undergoing consistent, dramatic changes since 2006, and this method aims to take advantage of that, as well as using core internet marketing principles and core marketing principles in general. I believe combining network marketing WITH internet marketing is the most powerful business even humanly possible. When network marketing is done correctly (in the traditional, non-internet way), you learn to connect more deeply with people and forge strong relationship bonds with them while you build a business together, in many cases through people they know. The “network” is the web of human relationships that connect us all. With internet marketing, products are sold through the amazingly rich and diverse information channels of the internet. With the changes that have occurred throughout the internet since about 2006 (known as the “web 2.0”), we are becoming connected more broadly to each other through means of the internet itself. We can now, more effectively than ever before, build relationships to each other through the internet itself, and then the “network” that is available to us in network marketing is MUCH larger. Note that the same principles of good network marketing apply here. We are always focused on the other person and solving their problems, and offering real solutions. We are NEVER spammers, whether in person face to face, or over the internet. If we always focus on the value side of the equation, and what we can bring to the www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 15 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski table, we never have to be concerned with what we get out of it, that will always take care of itself. The internet marketing model of being an “information architect” of course is not limited to having a business focused around a network marketing product. In fact, if you expand your business to this degree, you will already have an internet marketing business making you passive money, even if no one EVER joined your opportunity. This way of marketing can then be expanded into any other market or area of interest. Of course, you don’t have to take your business this far, that is your choice. Some people successfully build large network marketing businesses without ever using the internet. Heck, some do it without ever even going outside their warm market. Conversely, you don’t need to start with a network marketing opportunity at all; you could jump straight to an internet marketing business. Just realize that that is a business too, and should be approached that way, with patience, persistence, and the continual acquisition of new skills. And don’t be overwhelmed with all of this either. It took me a long time to realize all of the many things I’ve covered in this report. And I’ve been studying a wide range of different courses, books, and programs from this pursuit. But, it’s been a fun journey, and one that I will enjoy continuing. By consolidating all of this together here, and in numerous other reports that I have available for you, I’m hoping to shorten your learning curve, and help you narrow your focus. In that way, we can cut out any unnecessary things that you don’t need to learn, and focus on what businesses and strategies you DO want to use. I walk the walk that I talk about here too. I’m focused on helping you get whatever you might be looking for. To that end, right now I have another report to point you to called “Your Personal Bailout Plan” which gives a high level overview of several home-based business choices. If you haven’t read that yet, you can do so by going to my blog post about choosing your best home-based business option and downloading it from there. And finally, thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope you’ve found it enlightening and helpful. Give me your feedback, and shoot me an e-mail anytime at mike@theonlinemlmblueprint.com or give me a call at (330) 391-0139. Sincerely, www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 16 The MEGA MLM Report Mike Rutkowski Mike Rutkowski Disclaimer & Terms Of Use Agreement LEGAL NOTICE: The author and publishers of this book and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this program. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the contents of this program. Every effort has been made to accurately represent this product and it's potential. Even though this industry is one of the few where one can write their own check in terms of income; there is no guarantee that you will earn any money using the techniques and ideas in this material. They disclaim any warranties (expressed or implied), merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable for any loss or damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. As always the advice of a competent legal, tax, accounting or other professional should be sought. The author and publisher do not warrant the effectiveness, or applicability of any sites listed in this book. All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose. The manual contains material protected under copyright laws. Any unauthorized reprint or resale of this material is strictly prohibited. www.TheOnlineMLMBlueprint.com 17