Treat your Network Marketing business like a business.

I’ve noticed that something strange seems to happen to a lot of people when they encounter a Network Marketing Business, so I thought I’d make it the subject of this Network Marketing article. 

What happens is that many people seem to think it defies the laws of finance and business, leading them to do things that no ordinary business person would do.  But network marketing IS like any other business. I hear comments such as “Our business is unique”, or, “This company is unique and defies the normal rules.”

So let’s get it clear right now. No business is unique, even though there may be lots of similarities with many others.  And network marketing businesses still have a lot in common with traditional businesses.  Money in - money out - the difference is loss or profit.  If more goes out than comes, its loss. If more comes in than goes out, its profit.

The difference with network marketing is that you’re also building leverage income, that is, you do the work once and after that, the money comes to you week in, week out, whether you work or not. What you need to be clear about is whether the things you're doing are going to give you that long-term income.

I certainly come across a lot of network marketers who are in fairly senior positions within their companies, but they’re still making a loss.  They spend so much money each month on training, advertising, meetings and all the paraphernalia that they deem to be essential to do their business.  They have to have new suits, drive a car that’s up-to-date and looks of value, a designer watch and so on – everything to create the image of a successful person. 

So here is the key question. Are you getting more money in than you're spending on your business?  If not, you need to take a long, hard look at it.  (Of course - if you've only just started you're likely to have spent more out than you’re getting back in, but by the second year this certainly shouldn’t be the case.)

There seems to be an attitude amongst many network marketers that when they reach a certain level in their company, the money will just start flooding in.  For that reason they’re prepared to spend money on advertising and travelling to meetings - even travelling abroad, all because in the future the money will come in.  So with that kind of philosophy, what are they going to be teaching you or other newbies they enrol? Well – basically – to lose money!

And we already know that very few people rise to the top ranks of a company.  The majority of people are more than content with the additional to 300 to 500 Euros a month they earn.  This is a figure sufficiently large to keep them ahead of debt repayments and give them some real life style.  It means they can take a quality holiday whenever they need it. 

Very few people in network marketing are driven to reach the top ranks. On the other hand, many use the ‘so-called’ fact that when you get to a certain level “the money just floods in” as a justification for spending more money than they’re earning. If you encounter this mentality in anyone – stop them immediately! (Oh! And by the way – this applies to you too!)

You have to treat your networking business as the genuine business opportunity it is and apply the same business commonsense and financial planning that any other business would employ, and this means balancing the books.