At least 95% of network marketers are “spinning their wheels” and not making any impression on achieving their dream of financial independence. That’s not surprising!

Given the old school MLM prospecting methods still being taught, network marketers really need to take a step back and look at some of the exciting new alternatives being presented to them today.

Ann Sieg exposes many myths and lies in her book, The Renegade Network Marketer. One of the breakthroughs she has made is getting pre-qualified, highly-interested prospects come to
her. She says now that she knows how to do this, she’s been able to sponsor more people in a week than she used to in a year…

Read more about The The Renegade Network Marketer here…

How is you network marketing lead list looking? Not too good huh.You’ve undoubtedly been told when you joined your MLM company to sit down and make a list of leads.

write down every one you know in your warm market from friends to relatives. When you’ve exhausted those, then it’s time to start adding people to your network marketing lead list who you come into contact with occasionally; local business owners, people you know from church, old school friends you haven’t seen in years. You know the drill.

The Changing Face Of Network Marketing

Let’s be honest. How many of you have had success with this method during the past 10 years. Let me give you two reasons why it’s difficult to build an MLM business this way today:

1. People don’t want to approach their friends, relatives and distant aquaintances simply because it puts the fear of God into them. Why? Because they just don’t want too.

People are afraid of being seen as a serial pest by their peers and most people are guided in life by peer pressure. This is a limiting self belief that requires a monumental shift in thinking habits and it’s like trying to climb Mount Everest in your swim suit.

2. Targeting untargeted prospects in Network Marketing today is like driving around without a destination to go to.

Sure, some people have had success building an MLM business the warm market way but today’s climate almost dictates you need a shift in strategy and that strategy includes concentrating your efforts in attracting qualified prospects onto your network marketing lead list.

What About Generic Leads?

Forget generic leads too. Many people are getting their fingers burned by aquiring huge lists of generic leads which they pay good money for only to be left battered and bruised from the experience. It’s not their fault. They have followed their script to the letter but come up empty handed.

So how do you come up with a network marketing lead list that has the potential to be productive? Easy. Your lead generation system should include the following process:

- produce an initial lead generator which gets a response from people interested in exploring a home business model

- give them the initial information

- follow up and if they’re keen to know more, provide them with more information

- get a commitment

How important is the network marketing product to growing a successful MLM business? I’m not talking about network marketing in general but just the product.

Whether it’s nutritional, personal care or any other type of network marketing product, it’s long been believed leading with the product when prospecting is not the way to build an MLM business. I’m not so sure about this.

Promoting Network Marketing Products

Without the base products, what has an MLM company got? Nothing, so to say products are not an important part of the business structure is ludicrous. But you don’t see distrbutors mass promoting products when you take a closer look at the world wide web or offline.

Why?

Well, network marketers create future big pay days by recruiting. They are taught to recruit and companies know their main bottom line comes from the strength of their distributor force. That’s where the real money is for them.

It’s all about creating a long term sustainable income and while distributors use the products themselves and keep up with their monthly autoship payments there really isn’t any need to mass promote products on a large scale to the general public.

Take a look at some of these facts:

- Did you know traditional network marketing distributors are responsible for over 75% of product consumption within traditional MLM companies.

- The opportunity to make handsome retail profits selling network marketing products are limited. Margins of 10-20% are not attractive enough for distributors to concentrate their efforts in selling the product and to be honest, cheaper alternatives are usually available in many cases for consumers elsewhere.

- Companies rarely incentivise the retailing of products for distributors so the attractiveness to retail them to the public is not really there.

It Starts With Your MLM Product

So how can your network marketing product help build your business? Well, just retailing them won’t create a recurring, sustainable long term income for you but in the early stages of building a business, creating a customer base who use your products is important for two reasons:

- You are creating front end income and volume which is critical during the early building phase because this is where you need supplemental income to support the early spending phase in your business.

- Product users will sometimes become distributors. Yes, believe it or not some will join you in business. It may not happen right away but that’s the beauty of the MLM business… it’s one of leverage and the network marketing product is one cog in the game of leverage.

Two years ago watching Web Television online was almost completely unheard of due to all that buffering, installing countless software and slow internet connections. However, now there is plenty of rock solid Web Television out there for anyone to watch and the quality is getting better every day.

Now have a think about which one of these you would want to help you find great Funny Videos online.

Video clips - All these funny videos here have been hand picked by keen editors who select the best in Funny Videos and collate YouTube Clips and Web Television from other video sharing sites like Metacafe.com, StupidVideos.com and CollegeHumour. Because these vids are hand picked and organized by a human being you can expect to find the best Web Television.

YouTube Clips - The videos from YouTube, although often great contain a real mixture of quality. Even though YouTube has a powerful community to help decide which videos are good and which videos are not there is a lot of spamming that goes on, and lots of incorrectly organized videos. This can make browsing for quality Web Television a little bit frustrating.

Does duplication really work in building a network marketing business. Come on, let’s get real here. By simply duplicating what your upline does and then getting your team to duplicate the same process, the theory is you’ll establish a thriving MLM business in reasonably quick time.

Really?…

Read more about what’s wrong with the network marketing duplication system here…

How much has the network marketing landscape really changed? Is it possible to join the industry and create a residual income stream?

Network marketing is still a great vehicle to produce long lasting wealth but the truth is, the truth about what it really takes to succeed may be getting overlooked and it’s a pretty simple part of the MLM business…

Read more about the changing face of network marketing here…

If you’re stuck in a cubicle, you’ve likely thought about creating your own home-based business. Imagine the luxury of spending your day doing whatever you want. Your schedule is yours, with no pointy-haired bosses giving you orders.

But the idea of a home-based business will be far too frightening for most people to consider. Ann Rae was not amongst the fearful, though.

Part of the dilemma you might face is the question of what to do. For Ann, as it should be with you, it’s a matter of understanding both what you love doing and your skill set.

As a trained artist, Ann had a natural love for art and the skills to create beautiful paintings. But Ann knew she didn’t want to be a starving artist. The idea of selling art to the home-based business seemed like a great idea.

Then, like Ann, you’ll want to see your new home-based business as a business first, and something you love second.

Ann had worked at a variety of jobs in software, investment and fundraising until an encounter with a breast cancer patient made her realize that life is too short to spend it doing things she didn’t like.

“I realized, ‘I hate my life, I’m completely miserable, I want to paint,’ ” said Rea.

Ann drafted a 30-page business plan outlining how to make a living from her art. This is exactly what you should do as your second step (after getting clear on the nature of your business). Since Ann Rea loved painting landscapes. And she realized that she lived within driving distance of some very marketable landscapes — California vineyards — she felt he’d found the perfect niche market for a home-based business.

So she came up with a strategy of contracting with wineries to do oil paintings of their vineyards, sell them prints and postcards of her work, and then sell the originals to wine lovers through shows and receptions at tasting rooms.

“My assumption was that the wine lover is a collecting personality, and likely to collect art,” Ann Rea said. “And I don’t really care if I’m painting vineyards or some other scene. I’m painting the ambient light and color.”

Ann Rea started painting full time two years ago. She sought free consulting from the San Francisco Small Business Development Center to learn bookkeeping and sales negotiation, and to help set long-term financial goals.

She now has seven winery clients, including Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves and E. & J. Gallo Winery. She is negotiating to publish a book of her vineyard paintings, and she expects to reach 150 percent of her sales goal of $100,000 for the year.

Success with a home-based business often depends on your creativity and perseverance with your marketing and business knowledge. It’s not just about creating a better widget, or in Ann Rea’s case, fine art.

Said Iain Douglass, VP of Marketing for Gallo Wines: “Wine is a live product, and her style of plein-air painting captures it live. Ann Rea’s business approach was the best I’ve seen from the art world. Her flexibility in offering her paintings in so many different forms allows us to share it with our customers in many different ways, from thank-yous for key customers to postcards in our tasting rooms.”

Even with the best plan, your first year will often be stressful. It’s very scary, but in the end if you stick with it, you’ll get to do what you want, when you want. This is one of the best parts of having a home-based business.

Why would you ever go back to a cubicle when you can be doing what you love and making good money in the process? A home-based business can be both profitable and rewarding, but you’ve still got to make it a business.

Rea’s first year as a full-time painter was marked by constant anxiety, but she has moved past that. “It was very scary,” she said. “But it’s the best. I finally get to do what I love. I had chosen to abandon art, chosen to believe it was unpractical and I couldn’t do it. Now I would rather stick a dull needle in my eye than go back to a cubicle.

Learn more about Ann Rea’s home-based business and her unique wine gifts.