“Selling” can be difficult for network marketers… both the retail end and the network building end. It’s easy to enter a Home Business opportunity and say “I don’t want to contact my friends. I will just advertise and find new people.” As they say “that’s easier said than done.”

Often advertising for your opportunity in “mass media” (i.e. a publication not targeted towards business opportunities) fails to generate sufficient “return on investment”. (Your local paper MAY work to sell retail product though. That’s something you can only test.)

To advertise to opportunity seekers, it is important to seek out a Work At Home Directory or similar outlet that business opportunity seekers aim to visit looking for an appropriate opportunity. A Work From Home Advertisement placed at a “hub” site where opportunity seekers congregate will likely have better results than a general ad “somewhere” on the internet.

Furthermore, if you’re in a network marketing opportunity, let’s face it, people have been lead to believe such opportunities are often “scams” and “pyramid schemes”. If you advertise on a website where people visit who do not have this bias against network marketing – you have less heartache and are more likely to obtain a favorable results from your advertising.

This may explain why this network marketer had such good results from an online advertising campaign.

Please recognize though that no advertising is a “slam dunk” – EVER! Also note that this representative “kissed alot of frogs” to get 7 new distributors. There were 49 leads to work through! The results are very good, but they are not “effortless”.

And remember, if you can use advertising to build your MLM network, network marketers need to be trained, mentored, and supported if they are to be successful in making their own direct sales and recruiting their own sales network! Using ads to get people in the “front door” is only the beginning. The advertising outlet has no control of the “backend” though some times they are blamed for not delivering “full grown” new distributors who just take off without needing support!

Note: Thanks to Home Business Bug for bringing this to our attention and sponsoring this post.

It goes without saying that you don’t want to join a “Mind Control Cult with an attached Compensation Plan”.

But what are some positive things to look for?

1) A product you, the distributor, would likely buy on its own merits but NOT built around claims of “miracle cures”.

2) A product you, the distributor, would likely tell others about even if you WEREN’T being compensated for it because of its quality.

3) An honest presentation of how you make money in network marketing

4) A compensation plan that rewards “small producers”.

5) An Ethical Sponsor

Read it all

But this is a simple test I’d like you to help with.

Which of these headlines is most interesting to you? Could you tell me in a comment? Thanks.

1 How to build a part-time business while keeping your present job.

2 How to get an extra paycheck in your mailbox every month.

3 How to retire at full pay in less than 2 years and live worry free.

4 Proven advice to make money in a down economy and save on your taxes.

5 How often do you find yourself saying I wish I knew how to fire my boss and never have to answer to anybody again?

6 Leveraging your efforts. A unique method for residual income.

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Oddly enough the values of millennials may make them ideal recruits for MLM or network marketing or other business opportunities and referral marketing arrangements because of their love for freedom! Consider that if you’re hiring or building a business organization.

Recruitment of top notch young talent who can enter your work force and provide that kind of long term growth potential and can only come from a smart and productive staff is always a challenge. One of the big reasons any business works to keep its public image high and to project the concept that they are an employer of choice is to recruit the best and the brightest from the youth ranks.

Young employees bring a lot to a business that can compliment an older work force and make the business much more vital. Younger employees are savvy to the wants and needs of their peers. So instead of trying to guess how to market to the current generation of 18-28 year olds who are the age segment with disposable income, by keeping such employees on staff, you have the inside track to the priorities of the current generation. Further youthful employees are often optimistic and out to change the world. Their sense of mission and belief in the system as a means to make the world a better place results not only in a better morale internally but in business philosophy that shares those values.

The tendency to name the upcoming generations can be a bit trite but it helps in knowing who the target group for recruitment are. And that group of youthful future employees that will be hitting the job market in the next few years has been dubbed “the millennials”. And despite the traumatizing events of world terrorism, war and the decay of the environment, the millennials come to you with that youthful enthusiasm and desire to make a big difference in the world that sets them apart from previous generations.

To lure the brightest minds coming from the nation’s colleges, some rethinking of what we put in front of these young people is in order. They are not leaving academia strictly with the objective of making a lot of money. So to turn the head of youth workers who can make a change for the better in your business…

§ Don’t just make the potential job about money or your recognizable business name. The reputation of the company can be as much a negative as it can be a positive. The millennial recruitee will look past the sign on the building at what the company is really all about.

§ The millennial is more internet savvy and wants to use modern technology to accomplish business goals. It’s in our best interest to facilitate that goal because it will keep us in touch with the marketplace.

§ Corporate culture is an important factor for both recruiting and retaining good employees from this generation. Millenials are looking for a business climate that is creative, able to change when new things become available, highly accessible upper management and responsive.

§ Corporate values mean a lot to the millennial crowd. That means that those high minded values printed on posters and plastered all over the Human Resource department have to actually mean something. By demonstrating that the business lives up to its ethics and values, that will appeal the idealistic side of youthful workers.

§ The values that the business supports must reflect a modern attitude toward diversity and “going green”. If you walk a millennial around the office during his or her interview, they will notice the recycling bins scattered about. They will notice the diversity of culture and race in the employee mix.

§ Be prepared to recruit from various disciplines. Even if you are recruiting for a financial services function or some other specialization, keep your mind open to recruiting students with a focus on liberal arts or teaching. These millennials can be trained to the specific job and they bring a fresh approach to the job description that comes from their college area of focus.

These are things that might take time to change if the corporate culture is behind the times. But it’s worth the effort to start now to attract the kinds of workers that mean long term growth for the company. By doing some serious analysis on how up to the date the business is, you can begin to affect change now so by this time next year, you will be in better shape to court the millennials.

(Please keep in mind that this was long before the internet became a viable business tool.)

He found himself at the bottom one of these times for a variety of reasons – some, of course, which he couldn’t control. Know the feeling?

As I said, the man was smart. He had experience, skills, and marketing savvy. He knew how to do somethings and had paid the price in terms of learning how to think and act like a business man.

MLM was in his future. He’s still in it today. But at the bottom of a “valley” like this… creating a full time income from a downline takes time and money he didn’t have.

Like you, me, everybody, he needed “right now” money.

He was determined to crawl out of that desperate situation… but how?

He had decided on a company to invest his time with. To find qualified prospects and to get some “right now money” coming in, he assembled a package of personally written reports, coupons for his consulting services, freebies from related companies that would bring in leads and business for them and had a value to the customer, etc.

There was a great deal of value involved in the product. So much in fact that $5 seemed like a very reasonable price for the package. You might even call it an “impulse buy”. That’s what he intended to create anyway.

And people who paid $5 for a series of reports and to educate themselves on a subject were obviously much better leads than someone who was a cold name on a colder list. These were live prospects.

He wrote articles and in his bio box promoted this special offer.

If he could afford it, he placed print ads in the MLM magazines. (Remember, this was before the Internet and “pay per click”, search engine optimization, etc.)

And until he got on his feet again, it was that steady flow of $5 bills that helped keep him afloat.

True story.

And it’s a valid concept even if you’re not in MLM and just want 1) “right now” money and 2) want to develop qualified leads for your business. Thanks to the internet this same thing can be done by many people who take time to develop their skills and provide value for a front end sale and a back end sale.

The internet equivalent is readily available. An inexpensive hosting account, domain name, and $7 worth of software plus the investment of your time could get you started too. The question is whether we’ll invest the time to do follow this example ourselves?

Could this be your Internet Equivalent for Living On Five Dollar Bills? (The software available at this link is worth $50 easily!)

As 2008 comes to a close we look back on several popular terms and trends of the past year. Words like fresh, natural, organic, and local became part of our vocabulary. Preservative-free, sugar-free, gluten-fee, and Omega-3 started showing up on labels on every shelf. Grocery lists began including “fortified” and “with live, active cultures.”

In 2008, we saw a flood of new food products boasting their illness-specific benefits. Antioxidants and
nutrient-rich foods became words to live by. Clean Eating became a magazine an exercise program and
best-selling cookbooks.

Trends that will continue to shape how we eat this year will include: phytonutrients, ethical, green,
eco-labels. Natural plant compounds with names like — polyphenols, flavonoids, quercetin, lycopene, lutein and anthocyanins — are beginning to appear on mainstream labels. Studies suggest phytonutrients have disease-fighting properties that trump vitamins and minerals. 2009 will continue to see a rise in foods and beverages that promise relief from joint pain and inflammation.

Growing concerns about the environment, animal welfare and fair trade are fueling companies to
declare a commitment to these issues on food labels and in ad campaigns. With “eating green” predicted to be even bigger in the coming year, look for an even wider range of labels measuring carbon footprint and food miles.

Expect to see more “brain foods” and natural sources of nutrients. Superfruits like pomegranates and acai berries will give way to the goji berry (from which Himalayan goji juice is derived) and seabuck. By the way if you are interested in this product you can purchase it at Goji Juice Planet. This website also has alot of useful
resources and facts concerning both GoChi and Himalayan gGoji Juice…. Cacao will continue to be
seen an larger percentages in chocolate bars as it and other brain foods such as green tea , boast of their ability to improve memory, sharpen concentration, and even reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

A big trend in Europe, “beauty foods,” is also creeping into the marketplace. U.S. consumers,
continue to be lured by any product that promises beauty. Beauty-from-within products – nutricosmetics or cosmeceuticals- are claiming to help on the anti-aging front.

Both were similiar … saying my photo was on a site or I’d been tagged in a photo. These were from people I don’t normally contact but who would be able to contact me via email or facebook.

People are paying for harvested emails these days it seems. I guess if this article in the Guardian is correct.

Basically there’s an “MLM” network for harvesting email names. You earn 5 cents per name plus a % of whatever your recruits earn. That is if you can really trust spammers to pay you!

When you get the spam, you wonder “What the HECK?”

You go there, see fuzzy images and the goal is to get as many emails out of you as possible and, if possible, access your online accounts for more spam addresses.

I received one from a known MLMer who boasts about having “multiple streams of income”. I’d like to think her account was hacked. But the more I think about it, this person was probably just trying to con me for a nickel!

Here’s how one expert quoted in the above article viewed this:

This Picture scam is … where people are misled into believing that photos of them or belonging to them have been uploaded onto a public website. In order to see those pictures they are asked to enter their email address. Worryingly, as they step though the process to gain access to these non-existent photos, users are also asked to create a password. This neat little social engineering trick is relying on users’ habit of using common passwords, now the cybercriminal has your email and your password. It’s payday.”

Here’s a lady who represents a network marketing operation thats product is discounted health related services.

With the “rising cost of health care” all over the news, she’s positioned herself as the “welcome guest” instead of an “awful pest”.

That’s pretty good marketing if you ask me.

Here’s the story: Clarksville Home Business Owner Opens A Door To The Medically Uninsured

The website is connected to Gannett, so maybe she got some print exposure to. If it were in the newspaper, laminating it and keeping copies handy are a good way to build credibility.