In fact, over the past six months I’ve witnessed the incredible influence bloggers have had by teaming up and spreading the word on one such company. I have slightly mixed feelings about it, as you’ll see below.
How Network Marketing Works
For those of you who don’t know what network marketing is, here’s how it works:
You sign up to be a seller for a company and can earn money by selling this company’s product. But the real money is normally made by creating a team underneath you.
For instance, let’s say that you are selling makeup and one of your friends also wants to get in on the action. She signs up underneath you and now you get a commission of her sales. One of her friends decides to sign up underneath her and now you get varying levels of commissions on both of your team members’ sales.
The more people who sign up under you and everyone underneath you, the more money you make. (Assuming your “down line” makes sales.)
If you can build a team underneath you who manage to pull in some decent sales each month you can bring in a steady check without having to do any selling at all.
Some popular network marketing companies are Young Living Oils, Avon, Mary Kay, The Pampered Chef, and Advocare.
The Pros and Cons of Network Marketing
Network marketing has it’s pros and cons. Although in the past it’s been looked at in a shady light it doesn’t have to be IF done right.
Let’s first start with the pros of this kind of business:
High Income Opportunity – With network marketing you have the potential to bring in a decent amount of income. The more you sell and the more people who sign up to sell underneath you, the more you make. When you’re first starting out your income will be meager but if you work hard at it your income can be quite substantial.
Residual Income – If you manage to build a good sales team underneath you you’ll be able to get a check on a regular basis.
But there are cons too.
You HAVE to Find the Right Product – I am not against network marketing at all. What I am against is people pushing products that they don’t believe in. I see people promoting one product in particular that just doesn’t seem true to their personality. I’d never buy from someone who I didn’t believe was actually a user and lover of a product themselves.
It Takes Hard Work – While the opportunity to build up a sales team and have unlimited income sounds amazing the truth is network marketing is hard work. It could take years to earn the kind of income you’re hoping for.
I do think network marketing could be a great business for someone who could find a company that they 110% believed in. Unfortunately, I’ve never found a multi-level marketing company that I’ve loved that much.
What do you think of network marketing?