Did you know that 60% of teachers cannot survive on their salary! This video highlights several teachers who have had to take 2nd jobs just to survive. And this is true of many respectable careers that just cannot provide for a family these days without the help of a 2nd or 3rd income.
Have you considered seeking that additional job? Rather than have to add many more hours to your already stretched day, or change careers, there is an answer to helping supplement your family/personal income by helping others to be healthier from the comfort of your own home. One that I and many others are enjoying every day! Sometimes it is just a matter of educating the educator!
Meet Some of Our Members Who Have Developed a Reliable Income From Home
Do you want to create additional income? You’re probably well aware that there are others like yourself who are seeking the same thing. There are so many options available, but basically only four different kinds of business models, each having its own set of pros and cons.
Conventional employers offer commissions or wages and small private businesses typically are all based on exchanging your time for ‘transactional’ revenue. Neither of those allows much of a chance for you to ‘leverage’ or ‘scale’ your business.
Franchise ownership typically requires substantial cash investments and expertise that most people do not have.
That leaves a host of business opportunities that are very popular offering independent status as a ‘representative’ or ‘agent’ under the broad category of ‘marketing’ and requiring some degree of team building and leadership.
There are many questionable and unrealistic opportunities being pitched these days. One of your first priorities should be to work with a team that has carefully investigated many of the various business models that are out there. You should have a clear ‘roadmap’ to find and work with a successful business that brings proven value to the marketplace, fits one of your areas of interest and has developed a proven program for on-the-job training so you can earn income while you learn the strategies for succeeding at your business.
You’ll need to learn how to increase the number of people who say yes to becoming a life-long customer and/or decide to work with you as a business partner. That means you also need to find the ingredients necessary to have a sustainable product line that will generate passive income for a life-long business. Then there’s the most important question: What role does value play in a product line with a business attached to it and how do you spot it?
When it’s appropriate to talk with a business person about the search that many people are doing right now to find a reliable business opportunity, they will appreciate having this list of Success Factors. The logical question to ask next, after a thoughtful review of these 12 points, is my question at the end.
1. Company track record. How long has the company been in business? What are the company’s annual sales statistics each year since they began their business? Does the company print average income statistics for business builders? It should and you should ask for them. Proof of long term sales, success and growth is critical in choosing any business.
2. Financially sound. Does the company have outstanding debt? Joining a company that is debt free is highly recommend to lessen any risk.
3. Strong management team. What are the backgrounds and credentials of the management team? Look to join a company run with integrity and strong leadership.
4.Unique consumable products. Are the company’s products products that people actually need, use, run out of and repurchase month after month? Do the products have any trademarks or patents allowing for exclusive rights (meaning no other company can copy them)? If the products are not consumable, meaning something that a person would only buy once, then that is a business that will not be viable long term. If the products are consumable but not necessarily a genuine need, that will reduce your chance for long term success. Products that are truly needed and consumed monthly make for a solid business model.
5. Wide market appeal. Are the products something everyone needs and uses? If the products are specific for a certain gender, age group or body size for example, you reduce your market potential. It’s not something for everyone. If you choose a narrow niche product, you must ask yourself if you are comfortable excluding customers that are not attracted to that niche.
6. Competitive prices. Are the products comparable in price or less expensive than the competition? If they are too expensive, this is not a business that will produce ongoing great results. What will you do when you find competitors with equally high quality products that are reputably offered for a lot less cost? You may be loyal out of sheer stubbornness but your customers will run to the competitors.
7. High customer reorder rate. Does the company share its reorder rate? This means one thing. How many customers that purchased from the company last month, reorder again the following month? If the re-order rate is low, the business will not be viable as new customers simply replace your old customers producing no real growth or a secure, residual income. Know that it will be difficult to find this information from most companies directly. Don’t make a decision until you know this important piece of the business model you are considering joining.
8. Low initial investment. If the cost to join or start your business is too high it makes for more risk and difficulty in attracting customers and business partners. If a start up fee is high and a ‘customer acquisition bonus’ is also high, beware of what might be a “Ponzi scheme.” Many so-called ‘ground-floor opportunities’ have attracted many hopeful participants, only to tragically end in the loss of much time and money for the vast majority of eager business partners.
9. Low monthly requirement. If there is a high monthly requirement, customers and business builders may end up storing an inventory of products they do not need. If there is a low monthly product purchase requirement, then customers are getting what they need for personal use each month. From a business standpoint, you know customers are purchasing each month. That creates the freedom of true residual income.
10. Rewards for leadership development. Does the company reward you for helping others in your business succeed? If there is any way the company could remove business building partners from your business because of their success, be very careful about joining. There should never be potential for you to lose great partners. Also, be sure that you receive a reward for the business created by all of the customers that you personally bring to the company. There are many companies that cleverly take away productive customers and business partners from hard working people just like you.
11. Risk-free – Is everything 100% guaranteed? If not, could you seriously advise someone to join you? Be sure the guarantee is long enough to adequately test-drive the product. Check to see how the company handles returns and refunds. You will be so much more satisfied with your company when you can confidently tell your prospective customers that you know from personal experience about their excellent customer service and refund policy.
12. Anyone can be successful.Is the business plan set up for anyone to be successful at any time? If it’s a company that says Ground floor opportunity, or Get in Now, be wary. If only the people who join at the beginning can be successful, then eventually people will get hurt.
The only real question after considering this list is this: “which one of these factors would you take off the list if you were going to seriously consider working with the company?” If anyone seeing this list knows someone they care about is considering working with a company as an independent representative, they might be wise to consider: “how does that company measure up?” If we are honest with ourselves, nothing can match the conviction of ‘certainty’ that is backed up by verifiable data and experience. All the above points are relevant particularly to the one who has a long term commitment in mind. That’s why we should be just as eager to ‘prove all things’ in this part of life as we should be in any other.
If you are serious about researching further on this topic in preparation for making a decision about where to invest your valuable time, be sure to contact me at barbara@hayseedscreative.com or visit for more information.
THINK, THEN DO. The recent demise of several companies that used network marketing (or a facsimile) to sell their products to consumers, led me to reflect on the reasons that these, and many other companies, like them, fail.
Having been associated with a Consumer Direct Marketing business (a successful one) myself for more than 10 years makes me, at least somewhat, qualified to share some of my observations. I became an independent marketing executive with my company after being introduced by my enroller to the 12success factors that portend a successful company and personal career with that company. My company possessed them all, so I was encouraged.
But in reflecting on the companies that have failed in the past, both long ago and recently, I came to a conclusion that, if there were success factors, there must be failure factors, as well. Some of these are simply reciprocals of the success factors, which would make it easy. As you and I both know, nothing comes easy, so I’m sharing a few of “think out loud” thoughts here.
First, if the company you are considering is a pyramid business model—where only a few early “fortunates” will prosper—it is, first of all, illegal and finally, destined to fail, just because of the structure. It’s not the shape, because most direct marketing businesses have the “shape” of a pyramid. The downfall of the pyramid model is that the preponderance of compensation is not based on product sales, but on signing up others at a significant fee or large unsold product commitments. Don’t go there.
Another failure factor: a company that offers one or two products (even if size and applications vary). A company with a large variety of products and product categories that embrace duplicated, family spending; budget allocations that are already being made; offer an opportunity to expand your approach market exponentially, and your potential for success, greatly. However, a wide variety of products aren’t enough—the products must be higher in quality or unique in valuable ways and they MUST be competitively priced with their alternatives. Unique, superior, competitively priced products are what make the Consumer Direct Marketing model work.
A start-up company is sometimes a good bet in the technology/software business, but is almost never a good bet when it comes to consumer goods. A company with no history is using YOU to test every idea. Unless you enjoy being a lab rat, avoid this environment.
Another factor to examine is the company’s balance sheet (you will have to source that for yourself since that likely will not be shared). Next, is the company you are considering partnering with carrying bundles of unexplainable debt? If so, their future may be in doubt, and therefore, so is yours.
So a definite failure factor is unfunded spending in a business, as it is in our personal lives.
I’m happy to say the company I represent has absolutely no debt—as in zero—even in capital investments. So a definite “failure factor” is unfunded spending in a business, as it is in our personal lives.
Now let’s talk about the effort you invest in creating a consumer, it is considerable, particularly if you do a more than adequate job explaining your products and your business. If the association you are considering allows you to continue benefiting from those efforts in the form of continuing residual income, those efforts are (or eventually will be) worth it. But, there are many direct marketing models that provide breakaways, which simply means the money your consumer is still spending, is not enriching you any longer. Call me crazy, but that’s not a good deal, and certainly, qualifies as a failure factor.
So as you choose a business model to represent, use the above-mentioned success factors as a benchmark. For my choice, I was able to avoid all of the failure factors. The fact is that my choice was so sound that the only failure factor I had to overcome was myself! Yep, I was the only variable. Was I going to try this business or was I going to do this business? In the direct marketing arena, once you have sorted the successes from the failures, it always comes down to that choice…TRY or DO. I am not going to attempt to influence your ultimate choice, but when you have made yours, commit yourself to the do and not the try or don’t make the choice at all.
Stay where you are, it may work out. Really… REALLY?
The fear of failure is easy to understand. We all experience it, even if it is only from time to time (but it is likely more often). Fear of failure is right there “in your face”. It presents itself right up front and is obvious. As I said, fear of failure is easy to understand.
But it may be that the fear of success is your biggest obstacle. It is much more insidious and more difficult to identify. The linked article below Lifehackcan be very helpful in identifying that you fear success.
Try saying it to yourself, “I am afraid of being successful”, it doesn’t sound right. It sounds counter-intuitive. Check the behaviors, which indicate that you may, indeed, fear success. The article explains some things that you can do. You probably have heard that your subconscious mind is in charge much more than your conscious mind is.
Don’t be afraid of being extraordinary. Having a strong why can help you overcome the fear of success. Revisit your why often or, more importantly, write it down and keep it in front of you where you will see it often. You and what you can do for you is powerful beyond measure.
If you work hard doing results producing activities, becoming successful is inevitable. You will have your share of failures. It is just part of life. Believing that you deserve or even are entitled to success can make it all happen. It all begins with you. Don’t fear to become rich, standing out or change. Don’t avoid doing two things every day that will lead you to become the awesome you that is within you.
Fear (and not facing it) can degenerate your ability to succeed, in life, in business, and in your personal relationships. Fear is not the enemy, your inability to face it and challenge it is.
This article from “Help Scout” helps explain how fear can actually be your friend and how facing it often can be one of the greatest tools to achieving all the things that you consider success.
You have heard the term “comfort zone” numerous times and it is understandable that we all tend to cuddle in its’ warm embrace. IT IS COMFORTABLE. At the same time, that feeling of “being OK” is not that at all.
Fear is actually your friend. We all feel fear. It is NOT unique to you. Conquering it is the gateway to business success and life’s quality achievements. The fearful are punished as often as the bold. The difference is the bold gave themselves a chance.
Fear actually makes us do the opposite of what is best for us. The pain that facing fear causes is nothing compared to the gratification that facing and conquering it generates. Facing that needle, so that I may be immune to an illness or making that phone call for the appointment that can convert a new customer are better for me in the long-run and the long-term benefits far outweigh the prick of the needle or the anxiety that your finger dialing that number cause.
Water a most important resource. Important because it is needed for life to exist. Yet only 2.5% of water on the Earth is fresh water, and more than two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. That means almost all of the water on Earth, more than 97 percent of it, is seawater in the oceans.
Water is also quite powerful. Longtime coastal community residents know the danger of water and storm surge all too well. If you ask coastal residents, ones who’ve experienced dozens of ocean storms, what their memories are of the most destructive storm surge or water events, you likely won’t hear them rattle off any hurricane names. It’s the large winter ocean storms that release a flood of bad memories.
Water can be a deadly enemy, yet it still serve as an essential component in our lives because over 70% of our body is made of it and we can’t survive a week without it.
Since it is a vital part of life, we can learn a few lessons from water to apply to our everyday lives. Here are six of the best:
Boiling water softens potatoes and hardens eggs. Its about what you’re made of; not your circumstances.
Don’t water the concrete. Nothing grows there. Stay focused on doing what matters most.
Don’t water yourself down, because you’ll be less palatable to yourself and cheating those who matter. Don’t water yourself down, simply because someone can’t handle you pure, undiluted and 100% proof.
At 211 degrees fahrenheit, water doesn’t do very much, but at 212 degrees its boils and produces steam which can power trains weighing over 500 tons. That’s a change in temperature of less than half a percent. Small differences in behavior can create huge changes in results.
Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. They sink because of the water that gets in them. Be careful who you let into your head.
And finally…
When life pees on you, remember the words of Billy Connolly who said, “Todays rain, is tomorrows whisky.”
You have probably read about the new “trend” on the Internet. Young adults (teenagers) actually ingesting Tide laundry pods on digital videos. The article below from FOX Business will give you some gruesome details. Solving this problem is about common sense in our teens.
While common sense and mentoring can solve this practice, there are other dangers that exist in our homes that we expose ourselves and our families to that are not as obvious. More importantly, we voluntarily take these risks in the name of cleanliness and convenience.
If I were to take you into a grocery or drug store where you buy many of your household cleaning products, in a blindfold, your nose would direct you to the aisle where the cleaning products were displayed. The chemicals in these products fill the air with scents…and TOXINS.
The other article from House Beautiful explains how some of the household items expose our families and homes to unknown dangers. In a world of “going green”, it is counter-intuitive to continue exposing our domestic environment to these unnecessary risks.
There is a reason why many traditional products are equipped with “child-proof” packaging and warnings that guard against manufacturer liability as much as consumer safety. Be aware of the chances you take every day. Breathing and exposing skin to these products presents the real possibility of risks to your health. Everything from skin cancer to respiratory or gastrointestinal infections are just some of the possibilities.
I learned of a manufacturer that I can actually purchase directly from for products I use every day WITHOUT all the toxins. I have been getting my products, like laundry detergent, from them for a while now. I absolutely love how well they work. I’ve learned that cleaning products do not have to have skull and bones and child-proof safety caps on them to be effective. As adults, we can take all the safety precautions in the world and a child will still figure out how to access things they shouldn’t! We should not have to worry about making a trip to the hospital if that happens. And thanks to the manufacturer I purchase from, I don’t worry.
We are expanding rapidly and looking for more at-home representatives to enroll and help new members. Great opportunity for stay-at-home Moms, Dads, singles, retirees, or anyone looking for extra cash or to replace their income!
We are an affiliate marketing company—there is no selling involved and no collecting of any money. The hours are flexible and can be done alongside a full-time position as well as around your schedule. We are approved by the Better Business Bureau with a A+ rate and the Torch award. No sales and No inventory!
From the time that we were children, we were encouraged to learn and BE independent (self-reliant). As we move forward in our professional lives we may find that it doesn’t work as well as our parents intended.
You may want to explore some alternatives that actually make your search for business success and satisfaction more efficient and effective. Inter-independence is the combination of being independent while also being interdependent. The new economy, as the below article from “Authentic Organizations”, is discussed in some detail.
Even if you only examine the contemporary phenomenon of social media, you will find that we always depend on others and their input and information. It is a matter of the “you” and the “me” are becoming less important and the “we” is becoming the emphasis. In order to achieve your goals more effectively, it becomes more important to work WITH each other and HELP each other.
The company I’m associated with regards the dimension of helping others as so important it has incorporated it into its’ mission statement. In today’s new economy, even for a small business, independence is a myth and self-reliance is a bad strategy. I am an “independent businessperson”, but I am totally reliant on other independent business people with whom I work doing their job so that I can achieve my goals.
Shifts in purchasing from “brick and mortar” to e-commerce are undeniable, as the below article from Business Insider articulates. E-commerce sales are up by 15.5% from just a year ago. It predicts it will continue to take market share in the future.
This also factors in certain purchases that are not conducive to online purchase for various reasons. Those “resistant” sectors make up about 54% of total retail sales, so, for now, the growth of e-commerce is based on about 46% of available markets of conquest.
The resistant sectors include: new and used vehicle sales 21% (searching and pricing do not include purchasing), grocery and beverage purchases 12.6% (although some chains are taking a second pass at converting this sector with improved logistics methodology), gasoline sales 8%, and restaurant and bar purchases 12%.
Recently, it was announced that Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart, has made the decision to close 63 of its sales locations. It will convert about a dozen of those locations into—yes, you guessed it—internet sales warehouses, the USA Today inclusion below will give you the details.
It certainly looks like we can look forward to more closings of brick and mortar operations as we move into the future because of additional penetration. Although this process will be slow, it will be further fueled by retailers figuring out ways (and they will) to convert those “resistant” markets, over time.
What all this indicates is that businesses are finally catching up to the forward thinkers of the world. The company I purchase from started over 30-years ago with an e-commerce philosophy and is now one of the largest in the world with over $2 billion in annual revenue. Forward thinkers with amazing products and shopping options…just a few of the many reasons I love shopping there!
Hayseeds Creative 