What Advantages Do Women in Network Marketing Have?

Why are there so many women in network marketing?

Good question! According to the Direct Selling Association about 82% of network marketers are women.

Is that surprising? No, not really. When you really think about it then it actually makes a lot of sense.  Why is that?

Are women just better networkers?

Well, they do have some advantages over their male counterparts.

Here are just 7 advantages women have over men in network marketing. I’m sure there are quite a few more…

7 Tips To Make Your Start Easier

I was recently asked what advice I would give to someone just starting out in network marketing. Thanks, Josh, for providing me the topic for my blog post for today.

Here is how I answered the question of, “What advice would you give to a person who’s willing to start from step one?”

1) Pick the right company and products for YOU.

This is very important. Because, if you are not passionate about the products and the company you represent it will be hard to get others to join your team. People must feel your excitement. Excitement is contagious.

I actually had a different topic planed for today. But decided to piggyback on Jason Better’s post from yesterday. His post yesterday was about “Multi-Level Moms and Dads.” What a great topic and definitely some incredible food for thought.

Some may find that having children might hinder them in their home business. I find it quite the opposite. It can be a HUGE advantage single network marketers don’t have. We parents have a lot of  opportunities for networking other people wouldn’t even get.

Just think about it…

When you are bringing your toddler to preschool you meet other preschool parents to hook up and go out for coffee with. Btw, that’s how I got introduced to Tupperware, taking our oldest son to a German Kindergarten and meeting a Tupperware rep there. I’m still buying Tupperware today, because I fell in love with the products. Later when our boys were playing sports, there were always moms and dads around to network with.

The $64,000 Question…

When you meet other parents on the football field or at the hockey rink

It just might be, if Senator McCain’s new proposed bill becomes law. If you are a distributor with and MLM company marketing liquid nutritionals (or any nutritional supplements for that matter) then you better read this article.

Senator John McCain is attacking the MLM nutritional industry with a stupid bill.  The “Dietary Supplement Safety Act” threatens to dramatically change this industry.

If this bill becomes law it will require you to register your nutritional supplement business. Yes, you read that right, you as a distributor of liquid dietary supplements will have to register as well, not just the company you work with.

Read more here.

Wow!  What will they think of next to make life difficult for us network marketers?

There’s a reason it’s called NETWORK Marketing. You are not all by yourself. It’s about a large group of people doing a few simple activities over a sustained period of time. In other words, it’s about a lot of people doing a little consistently over time. It’s about leveraging yourself.

Don’t think you have to sponsor this large group of people all by yourself either. You only need a handful and then teach them how to get a handful. And so on. Over time you, and your handful of people, that you started out with, will have build your large network.

You can talk to any one of the top leaders in any company and they will tell you that they only sponsored a few people themselves. And those few built their network marketing organizations. Remember, it’s about a lot of people doing a little over a sustained period of time.

One of my favorite books is ‘The Slight Edge’ by Jeff Olson. In it he tells the story of ‘The Water Hyacinth. It goes something like this…

Although a single plant can produce as many as 5,000 seeds, the method it prefers to grow is by doubling itself. It can cover an entire pond in 30 days. However, for the first few weeks you won’t even notice it is there. On day 15 you may see maybe a square foot. On the 20th day you may find a dense little patch maybe the size of a mattress. On day 29 half the ponds surface will be open water. But, on the 30th day the whole pond will be covered with a blanket of the water hyacinth. You won’t even see any water.

So you see, just by doubling itself, this amazing plant covered a whole pond in as little as a month. It’s pretty much the same principle in network marketing. We double ourselves, and then again and again and again until we have a very large network of people who all do a little to contribute to the whole.

It’s not hard. It just takes time.

Many people give up to soon. If they would just have stayed the course, they would have reaped the harvest of the seeds they were sowing.

Don’t give up! Stay the course! Get a few. Teach them to get a few and help them teach those to get a few. And you all do just a few simple activities every day over a sustained period of time.

I know, I sound like a broken record…but there is a point to it.

I invite you to leave your experience in the comment box below.

I was cleaning out some files to make more room on my hard drive and came across this poem by Jim Rohn. I thought it would make an excellent tribute to one of the greatest mentors of this century. So here it is…

“I wish for you a life of wealth,
health, and happiness; a life in which you give to
yourself the gift of patience, the virtue of reason,
the value of knowledge, and the influence of faith in
your own ability to dream about and to achieve worthy rewards.” _Jim Rohn

A good friend of mine, Doris Hullet, wrote this article and gave me permission to share it with you here on my blog.
Enjoy!

The Secret Art of Building an MLM Business Online:

Problems You May Face when Entering the Online Business Arena.  How Fast Can You Get Going?  Are three months enough time? The 90-Day Challenge.  Ask yourself these questions:

l.    Are you Computer Savvy? If you are not, you are going to have to learn a whole new Language and how it applies to your new online business.

Several online, new-language technical terms include: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), auto-responders, blog, campaign, Hyperlink, Natural Search Results (Organic Listings), Tags, and Web 2.0. These terms you can Google on Key word search.

If you are “computer illiterate” it is going to take due diligence to see how fast you can learn your new language so you can be “all that you can be” as an Online Marketer.

2.    Are you a Leader? As the CEO of your own business, you no longer are the employee, but rather the employer. It takes a major mental shift to be driven, energized, motivated, and held accountable to self.

What does this mean?

Driven:  It means you become a doer, rather than the one that watches what happens. You take action to the point of almost obsession. You focus on sales conversions so that you don’t waste time selling.

Energized:  Leaders don’t let up. They know their “Why”, and that energizes them to keep going.

Motivated:  When leaders wake up in the morning, there is a call to action already in their minds.  Leaders do not drag into work and give a half-hearted work ethic; they know what the rewards of their efforts will produce… financial freedom, time with their families, travel opportunities, giving back to their charities and living the life of their dreams.  They are motivated because of the sheer challenge to prove something to self.

Accountability:  No one is there to say, “We need the monthly report in a couple of days, because the auditor will be here next week.” The new auditor is You.

Time Management:  Experiment with day planners, time schedulers or some sort of hourly tracker until you find your perfect fit. This might even include a kitchen timer or setting your cell phone alarm clock.  Time management techniques help keep you focused on income-producing activities.

3.    Are you an Employer or Employee?

Employee vs. Employer:  Employee = Everything is done for you.  Basically.

Employer = Tracking your expenses as a bookkeeper, business tax legalities, becoming incorporated/self-employed, insurance for yourself and your business space are a few things to keep up with. I have found these brochures to be a good resource:  www.irs.gov/efile Publication 334, 552, 583, 587 for “Starting a Business and Keeping Records.”

4.   Have you learned the Systems-in-place?

If you decide to join an Online System to assist you in the growth of your primary company, it will be a tremendous asset in your learning curve. There may be a fee for their back-office training platform, and efficient systems.  It is worth it, because it will free your time for marketing and sales. The only thing you have to do is learn the system.

5    Are you prepared for the long-term commitment?

If you think you will “try” your business for 3 months, 6 months or “give it a year,” you might want to re-think your strategy. It all takes time. There are no short-cuts, or quick-get-rich businesses. This is not a hobby.  Warning:  if you have a “give it a try” mentality, the IRS considers that a hobby, not a business.

If someone is immediately successful in a MLM or Direct Sales business in an organization, you may have to consider that they already had some of the following elements in their resume: computer literacy, leadership skills, and/or sales experience.

Overnight success, really wasn’t “overnight.” Successful people experienced the school of hard-knocks, and hard work. It wasn’t free; there is a price and a learning curve.

Long-term commitment includes “failing-forward.” Just make sure that of the hundreds of mistakes you make, that you don’t add the mistake of ‘quitting’ on your list. Think long-term, no matter what.

6.    Are you willing to succeed?

That sounds like a silly question, but you have to realize that if you don’t change you mindset you may possibly sabotage your own success. Some people don’t think they deserve to succeed.

You have sought to be a good, hard-working, loyal employee for others for so long, that you are probably used to disappointment.  The dynamic changes involved with transitioning into building an mlm business online can be very uncomfortable for the beginner.  It is now time to be “comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

You are in the process of becoming the CEO and Entrepreneur of your own company.   Don’t you think you deserve a higher income for all the work you have done to get this far?

You have unique value, bringing yourself and your creativity to the market place.  The majority of your growth will not stem from the above mentioned market leaning curve, but the development of yourself as a person.

To have success, you really will need to have self-acceptance and self-permission.

7.    Are you willing to give up your old friends?

You may not have to give up your old friends; they may give you up. But then again, they may not see why you are pursuing a business, or understand your personal needs.

Old friends may see you go into debt, and argue, “What is wrong with a traditional job?” Well, considering the current economic times, there may not be a lot of traditional jobs left.

The employment climate has changed; shifted. Companies are downsizing, merging, laying-off, going overseas; we are not a producing country any more.  We have become a service country.

You are contributing to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) rather than drawing on unemployment by becoming an entrepreneur online. If you lose some friends over it, were they really your friends? Are your friends helping you pay your bills?  No? You are choosing to do something with your life. It may require changes.

8.    Are you WILLING to reap the following rewards?

You will have new technical computer skills. (I can do this!)

You will become a leader. (Confidence to coach and mentor others)

You will be an employer. (You will have new tax-advantages)

You will learn your systems. (When you finally understand it you will experience relief.  It is a bit on the techie side)

You are committed for the long-term. (You will thereby have long-term results called Cash-flow and residual income)

You will succeed. (You will receive a new income. The sales ratio of income is  not measured in dollars per hour. It will be directly measured in proportion to the value of your personal development,  and what you bring to others.)

You will make new friends. (They will be from all over the United States, and globally! If your primary company has an event, it is delightful to actually meet these new, like-minded, business-online friends!)

You will have a new life. (You will no longer be building someone else’s dream; you will be building your own!) You have proven something to yourself. Congratulations for your self-acceptance to a new life; congratulations for the self-permission to LIVE Your dreams!

Hence, the Secret Art of Building an MLM Business Online.  The secret is not in the business…the secret is in BUILDING YOU!

Doris Hullett was a Community College Educator, and made a career change into the Network Marketing Field.  Seeking to help other entrepreneurs create personal success in their businesses, she provides Internet Success Coaching and Continuing Education in marketing any online and offline Home-Based Business for people who SERIOUSLY  want to work from their home, own their own business, improve their lives, and have the financial freedom needed to do what they really want to do.

I received an email the other day, from Jordan Adler, my upline in SendOutCards, that I totally could relate to. Here’s an exert of what Jordan had to say, followed by my own thoughts and a message from former US President Bill Clinton endorsing the network marketing and direct selling industry:

“As I was watching the Cav’s and the Magic play tonight in Orlando, I couldn’t help but notice the big logo painted right on the court that said ‘Amway Arena’. Wow! Have we come a long way in our profession. Just a few years ago, Network Marketing was a dirty word. Today, the first really well known MLM company logo is right in your face on national TV during the playoffs! Network Marketing has finally gone mainstream. In my first 10 years in our profession, I noticed that 7 out of 10 people were angry and mean to you if you mentioned you were in network marketing. You just as well may have approached them with a deadly disease. Today, thanks to social media, affiliate programs, Robert Kiyosaki, Paul Zane Pilzer and the thousands of people that make their livings through network marketing today, we are finally an accepted profession.

In fact, many traditional businesses today are having financial troubles and those companies that offer a home based businesses are thriving. We are in the right place at the right time.”

When I first started out in this industry I had the same experiences. I didn’t dare mention the words Network Marketing or MLM because I feared the reaction of the people I was trying to introduce to my business at the time. Funny thing, I was once one of them. Very negative and totally opposed to the idea. My husband was actually the one who started in this industry in the early 90ies. At one point I told him flat out, “If you join one more of “those things” I am going to leave you.

How things have changed. It took us many years and many trials and errors but we finally found a company where we made some money. That’s when the bug bit me and when I finally “got it.” There is no other business model out there that gives the average person a chance to get financially independent. Network marketing is getting more and more positive attention in the media these days and highly influential people are endorsing our business model and giving us the ‘thumbs up.” We no longer have to mention what we’re doing under our breath but can look someone straight in the eye and say, “I am in Network Marketing…and I am darn proud of it.”

Please watch this 3 minute video below and then leave me your thoughts in the comment box.

US President Clinton Endorsing the Network Marketing and
Direct Selling Profession