Are You Disgusted With Losing The MLM Game?

Learn to Take Advantage of Tax Laws and the Legal Deductions That are Allowed to You Through the Operation of Your Home Based Business

The subject of taxes is very uncomfortable for most people. Why?

1. Lack of Knowledge


2. Lack of Information

With the right knowledge and information about taxes and how they apply to your home-based business you can be more sure of yourself and...more agressive.

Put This in Your Home Business Tool Kit

Pam Orr has been a tax preparer for more than 18 years and a network marketer for more than 11 years. She has been giving informative tax seminars to network marketers, enabling them to gain insight on the tax advantages of owning their own home-based business.

Want to hear one of her seminars?

Click this link: Taxes and Your Home-Based Business and you'll be able to hear one of her recent hour long seminars right now, for free!

(By clicking the link you'll be taken immediately to my website where you can listen in. Make sure your speakers are on.)

In the seminar you're going to learn about:

• income, expenses and allowed deductions


• alternative ways of categorizing your deductions on your tax forms


• the "Hobby Loss Rule"


• how to keep records...most people don't do this simple technique and it costs them a fortune every year


• how to determine how to calculate the deduction for your home office


• how to minimize your self employment tax


• why our tax laws benefit the home-based business owner and how you can get in on the fun!

and much more...

Pam is truly an expert on tax preperation and savings for the home-based business entrepreneur.

The seminar also contains information on how you can contact Pam directly with any questions you might have regarding your taxes.

Enjoy!

To Your success.

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This post was provided by Jeff Weissman. Jeff is an attorney, network marketer, website designer, web publisher and home business growth specialist. You can contact Jeff by visiting his website at DreamTeamTrainingWorks.com or by calling him directly at (516) 682-5656.

5 Secret Steps to Killer Web Copy
By Jeff Weissman

Having trouble writing web copy that gets your target audience to take action? It's not really that hard to do. What you need is a simple step-by-step plan to get it done.

Before I tell you the plan I want you to realize that to become an effective marketer you must position yourself as a problem solver.

What problems will you solve? Your target audiences's problems. How do you solve those problems? By offering your product or service as the solution.

The key to the 5 secrets steps to writing killer web copy (or any copy for that matter) is to ask yourself the following questions:

1. What's your target audience's problem?


2. Why hasn't your target audience been able to solve their problem up to now?


3. How can the problem be solved?


4. What do you have that can solve the problem?


5. What should your target audience do now?

To write effective web copy you simply write down the answers to these questions.

If you'd like to read the rest of this article and see an example of how to put these 5 secret steps into practice go to my website at DreamTeamTrainingWorks.com

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Jeff Weissman is an attorney, network marketer, web desgner and web publisher who specializes in helping other network marketers grow their businesses without buying expensive leads or chasing their family and friends. Listen to a free audio interview where Jeff talks about his experience in network marketing and the secrets to his success.

Cold Calling Doesn’t Work!...Does it?

I talk to fellow network marketers on a regular basis that think the concept of “cold calling” is some left-over business concept from the 80’s that just doesn’t work in today’s hyper-skeptical society. It’s interesting listening to these people give the reasons why they think cold-calling is an absolute waste of time:

· “People hate telemarketers”
· “The Do Not Call list makes it impossible to cold-call”
· “I hate talking to strangers, it’s uncomfortable”
· “People won’t buy from you unless they Know, Like, and Trust you”

Really? Is warm-market marketing the only way for a network marketer to grow their business?

When someone tells me that the only way to grow a networking enterprise is to warm-market their product or service, I walk away. The reason I walk away is because I know for a FACT that I’m talking to someone who doesn’t know the first thing about marketing. Let me explain:

When someone buys a franchise, they don’t make a list of 100 friends or family as the foundation of their marketing campaign. When a retail establishment opens up a new store in a new location, the managers don’t “warm-call” all their friends, and hope to build a six-figure income off that type of marketing campaign.

It’s the same thing for networkers.

If a distributor is told to simply go out and attempt to leverage personal relationships in the hopes of attaining some sort of financial benefit, then that distributor will probably fail. Why? Think about it. We all hate being sold stuff we don’t need, so when a friend or family member attempts to sell us their product or service when we weren’t even looking for it in the first place, we see straight to the bottom line, and the bottom line is this: we understand that the friend or family member doing the selling is attempting to use their relationship to leverage a financial gain. And that is absolutely offensive.

So what is the alternative?

COLD CALLING!

But not just any type of cold-calling will work. It has to be systematic, and it has to be well planned. Here’s the process:

1. Acquire Leads – It all starts with leads. Now, most network marketers are familiar with the “opportunity lead”, which costs about $5 - $7 a pop. They’re usually not worth the paper they’re printed on. Opportunity leads are what is known as a “response” lead, or a lead that simply responded to some sort of message. Many times, the lead actually filled out a pop-up ad to win a free laptop, and then their data was actually pawned off to a lead brokerage firm as an “opportunity” lead.

What a rip.

How about this for a lead. Lets say, for example, I’m marketing a nutritional product that improves the body’s ability to heal itself. If I were marketing this type of product, I’d go out and get a lead that has purchased a similar product or supplement in the previous 6 months, so I know that they were recently looking for my type of health solution. I would also specify that they buyer have used a credit card, be between ages 35 – 60, and have an annual income of over $50,000 per year. Why? So that I know the lead is actually looking for my type of solution, is willing to spend money on my type of solution, and has a credit card so that if we get to the point where we want to do business, I can take payment over the phone immediately. And the best part is that when you know how to purchase these types of leads, you can buy them for as cheap as $0.07 per name.

2. Design A Script – Yeah, I know, there are plenty of people out there that say that scripts sound fake or “canned”, that you should just be natural, be yourself. Hmmm. Do McDonalds or Honda change their commercials every single time they air? How is it that if I turn on my TV, and you turn on your TV, we each see the same commercial? Maybe it is because that in order to track results, we have to have a consistent message. The people that think scripts sound phony have never used a script. Actors read off scripts all day long, and we spend our hard-earned dollars to watch them read scripts to us. We watch TV shows all night long, with the people on the shows reading scripts the entire time. But they don’t sound canned. They sound professional. Pro’s use scripts.

The telephone is one of the most powerful business growth tools available to network marketers. In the right hands, it can add thousands of dollars per week into your business. Not utilizing this tool is simply limiting the amount of business you can complete in a days time. If you don’t know how to use the telephone, that’s fine. Find someone who does, and learn from them. Anyone who doesn’t think the phone can grow a business probably doesn’t even have a business.
Use the phone. Your checking account will thank you.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

What’s With The “Rah-Rah” Meetings?

Good afternoon! Today, I’m going to make a lot of people angry.

I need you to understand that it is not my intent or focus to upset anyone. My intent and focus, my mission, is to educate and help people understand how the network marketing industry works. And to do that, I realize that some people might take offense or be upset by what I say. If you are one of those people, I apologize in advance. I am not anti-MLM or anti-network marketing. In fact, I think that network marketing and MLM is probably the best place on the planet for the “little guy” to get started with a few hundred bucks, and turn that into a huge residual income.

Unfortunately, network marketing and MLM both have sketchy reputations. Personally, I am anti-B.S., and I want to take a few moments to look at one of the most misunderstood pieces of this puzzle.

Today I want to look at the “company event” or “company conference”. You have heard of them (or been to them): it’s a huge MEGA-EVENT in which some key speakers get on stage and tell their “million dollar story”, the CEO or president might get on stage and talk about what an amazing company they have, what an amazing product line, ad nauseam. Typically, companies will also launch a new product or product line at the event. The distributors will usually pay several hundred or several thousand dollars to attend the event, plus travel, accommodations, etc..
What’s up with these things? What purpose do they serve?

First consider this: most of us are creatures of habit. If you doubt this, go look in your refrigerator. The types of food you see in there today will probably be the same types of food that will be in there 3 weeks from now. We buy out of habit.

As a business, I have to know that the absolute best, most responsive customer I could ever have is a customer that has habitually bought from me before. The group of these buyers, as a whole, can be called my “client base”. My client base has already demonstrated that they will buy my products. They have also demonstrated that they are willing to keep buying my products.

An MLM or network marketing company is no different. They have a client base. They call these clients “distributors”. These distributors have demonstrated the propensity to purchase a particular type of product. Usually, they are buying it monthly on “autoship”. So if I’m a company, and I’m looking to generate more revenue, how can I do that?

Well, one option is to have a mega-event. An MLM or network marketing company can advertise this “rah-rah” meeting as an annual (or semi-annual) mega-event, training conference, whatever. The company can fill an auditorium with current clients (distributors), and then bring in key speakers that talk about how much money they can make with this company, how great the product is, how fantastic the opportunity is, etc. They charge each distributor a premium price (usually several hundreds thousands of dollars) and at the same time, qualify the distributor as being both a “buyer” and as having enough money to buy additional products.

Once everyone gets in the auditorium, and everyone gets real excited, the company can then launch a new product or product line, and literally guarantee that the launch will be successful. Because the company qualified everyone as both a “buyer” and as having enough money to buy, the new product launch is an absolute success. The company generates revenue. The distributor spends money.

This is the same principle that every other retail business uses. Think about it: have you ever bought anything online, and then continued to receive emails or “junk mail” from that company with additional offers and specials? That company understands that you have bought from them before. And you will probably buy from them again. So they continue to send special offers.

Again, I’m not saying that networking companies are bad, or that MLM companies are trying to exploit their distributors. I am saying that network marketing and multi-level marketing is about business. To make a ton of money in this industry is downright easy if you understand how the numbers work. But the flip-side of that coin is if a distributor doesn’t understand the numbers, they will probably be making a lot of financial donations to their company.

Of course, these “rah-rah” meetings are not completely useless to distributors. Most distributors will certainly come away from that event being very motivated. And motivation is a very important thing. But motivation without the right tools usually spells disaster. Think of it like this: If I’m REALLY motivated to change the oil in my car, but the only tools I have are a fork and a steak knife, I’m going to have a very difficult time getting the job done. Motivation has very little to do with it; it comes down to having the right tools, and the knowledge to use those tools effectively. That’s the bottom line.

If you are a distributor, then you need to know what you are doing. If you spend two grand on an event, I at least hope you get more out that thing than some extra product. Invest in your knowledge, invest in your skill set, and watch you business grow.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

The “tie-down” is a transition technique used whenever you are talking to a prospect and trying to close business. It is actually designed to be delivered after a rebuttal or after a response to a buying question. What it does is ensures that your prospect acknowledges your rebuttal / response, and allows you both to size things up recognize what you are saying as true. Here’s how the process works:

You have a prospect that has gone through a presentation, and you are now attempting to close business. Your prospect asks some buying questions and/or objections (to determine the difference, see my other article titled “Buying Questions Vs. Objections”) and you respond appropriately. After your response, you want to tie it down before proceeding, to make sure they are on the same page. A tie-down is delivered like this:

“Does that make sense?”
“Is that fair enough?”
“Do you see how that works?”

If your prospect is tracking with you, and you properly answered the buying question/objection, then they will answer “yes”. If not, they will say “yes,but…”. And yes buts will make you rich. Here’s why: If a prospect is answering, for example “yes, but I have to talk to my spouse”, or “yes, but I can’t pay cash for this thing”, then the prospect is actually giving you the opportunity to be creative and overcome that objection. They are participating in the buying process, which we as consumers love to do. We don’t want to be sold, we want to feel that we are having a say in the purchase, and the way we do that is by offering buying questions and/or objections. If you can overcome and answer those questions/objections, then you will close business. The consumer is happy, because not only did they get something that they wanted, but they got to participate in the process of purchasing. You are happy too, because you closed business, you have helped a client to get what they needed, and hopefully your checking account is happy.

So to recap, here is how the whole process works (and at the end of this explanation, I’ll even use a tie-down, just as an example): your prospect attends some sort of presentation that informs them of how they can benefit from your product/service. Afterward, you proceed through the closing process. It is expected that they will issue both buying questions and objections. This is how the prospect will participate in the process, and should be welcomed. Then, you will answer those objections and questions appropriately, you issue a tie down, and you proceed with payment. And that’s exactly how the transaction should work. Does that make sense?

How To Tie It Down!

Remember, it’s a lot easier to hit a stationary target than to hit a moving target. So to put the odds of success in your favor, then simply aim at targets that don’t move. And to make sure your target doesn’t move, tie it down.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

Buying Questions Vs. Objections

When completing a transaction, many of us in Direct Sales or Network Marketing programs often fear when the prospect objects to purchasing what you are selling. Even though most of us have heard such clichés as “the sale doesn’t begin until they say no”, when the prospect actually does say anything other than “yes”, our spirits fall. We think that’s it.

Here’s a secret: The number one reason that more business is lost in this country every day, the number one thing that keeps companies up late at night brainstorming, is “How do we teach our sales force the difference between a buying question and an objection?” It appears to be a huge ordeal, a massive step that would require years of training and practice to master.

Here’s the good news: it doesn’t take years and years of practice to “get it”. It isn’t an overnight process, and that’s because the way we can detect the difference between a buying question and an objection is primarily in the prospects voice.
You see, when a prospect says “I’ve got to talk to my wife before I buy this”, it could be a buying question or an objection. The difference is how it is stated. Buying questions / buying statements expect and welcome an answer. An objection is stated flatly. That’s the difference. A buying question simply requires an answer, more information, more explanation, etc. An objection requires a completely different process altogether.

The kicker is that if you answer an objection as a buying question, you will lose the business. If you answer a buying question with a rebuttal for an objection, you will lose the business. This is what terrifies companies. This is why tons of business is lost every day. If you answer a buying question with a rebuttal, you will actually raise skepticism in your prospects mind, you will force that prospect to object, at which point, you have very little recourse. You shot the sale, and it’s over. And if you answer an objection as a buying statement, you will simply frustrate the prospect, as they are looking for a solution to overcome the objection, and are not looking for simply “more information” or an elaboration of what has already been explained.

Developing the sense of being able to differentiate between buying questions and objections makes the difference between doing business and losing business. It is not some magical skill, but simply a skill that develops with use, just like anything else. The more it is practiced, the easier it becomes. The rough part is in starting out, because it’s tough botching up a sale, and having to go back and review it, find out where it went wrong, correct it, and then try it again.

But for those who are willing to go through that process, and are willing to develop the skill set necessary to answer buying questions and objections effectively, they are the people that will generate and income that will require the help of future generations to spend it all. For anyone attempting to grow a business from scratch, developing the ability to discern between buying questions and objections is an absolute must.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

Product Users Or Business Builders?

In the network marketing and MLM industry, distributors are often told that they need to find 2 types of people to put into their business: Product Users (consumers), or business builders (people that are trying to make money with the business). Often, it is presented as a mutually exclusive option, meaning that a person is either a business builder OR a product user. When operating and attempting to grow a downline, networkers and MLM’ers are usually encouraged to focus their efforts on acquiring business builders if they are trying to grow a business.

In theory, it only makes sense. If you want a business, and specifically if you want leaders, then find business builders. If you just want to help people enjoy the product, find product users. Right?

Wrong.

This line of logic makes sense on paper, but I’m sure we can all recall certain theories that made tons of sense on paper, but didn’t work in reality.

Network marketing, or multi-level marketing, is not an industry. It is a compensation model. Instead of being paid on the front end for consumption (like a traditional retail-compensation model), you are paid on the back end for consumption. The important thing to keep in mind is that without consumption, NOBODY GETS PAID. You can have 10,000 people in your downline, but if nobody is using the product, then nobody gets paid. Consumption of product is what allows MLM companies to cut distributor checks. Nobody gets paid on simply recruiting and sponsoring.

Why is this important?

Well, if you’re trying to build a business and generate revenue with network marketing as vehicle to that end, then it’s absolutely imperative to your business that you have a distribution channel that focuses on consumption.

So here’s the big question: How do you do that? How do you build a distribution channel from scratch that emphasizes consumption?

Like this: You lead with your product or service.

This is important enough to repeat it: Lead with your product or service.

Instead of focusing all your efforts on going out there and trying to find other people to blow up your downline for you, focus your efforts on finding those consumers that are already demonstrating a need, want, or desire for your particular product or service. Then, you simply position yourself in their pathway of consumption. By presenting them with a product solution, and then showing them the “opportunity” as a means of subsidizing their usage of that product (get the product for free) or even as a way to make some money over and above that, you can then build a downline with a solid foundation of consumption.

But that’s not the best part.

The best part is that by leading with the product or service, you will dramatically increase your retention rates.

You see, when you lead with the product or service, you will be building a solid foundation of consumers. In addition to that, you will also have business builders that are taking advantage of the business opportunity to get the product for free, or because they recognize the value of the product they are receiving, and want to get that same product in the hands of other consumers who are looking for similar solutions. By leading with opportunity, you build a downline based on greed. You have a bunch of people in you downline that are there to make a million bucks. So when 3 months pass by, and they are still not making a million bucks (this is residual income, remember?), they quit using the product. The only reason they ever used the product in the first place was to make a lot of money, so when they’re not making a ton of money, they quit.

But when you lead with the product, you are solving a consumers problem. So if they do decide to take advantage of the business opportunity, they’ll stick with it because even though they’re not making a million bucks in 3 months, they believe in the product, the values and the benefits that the product brought into their life, and therefore continue to consume the product. That’s why they got started in the first place; it was based on the need of the consumer for the values and benefits that your product or service offered.

Because the opportunity was not stressed and presented as the sole reason for consumption of product, then the consumption of product will continue even though the distributor is experiencing the usual bumps and bruises that go along with the creation of any business. For most people, greed is not motivating enough to keep a person going when business is slow and the dreams of margaritas on the beach seem unreachable. But the passion and belief in the value of a product IS enough to keep a person going when breathing life into a business. And that will make the difference between a 60% attrition rate (industry standard for most downlines) and a significantly lower attrition rate. (currently, the standard for my downline is a 2.5% attrition rate).

If you lead with the opportunity, you will probably go broke, and your organization will flounder. If you lead with the product or service, you will create enough income in your lifetime that you will have to hire professional shoppers to help spend it all.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

Today I’d like to take some time and drop-kick another very common line of B.S. that seems to be very common in the MLM industry. If you happened to catch the first installment of this 5 part series, I gave a little background about myself, and my involvement with Network Marketing. You need to know that I’m not anti-MLM, or anti-home business. I think that the home business is the very definition of Entrepreneurial Capitalism, and I absolutely love the idea of a person embarking upon a venture, starting from scratch, with a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, and turning that into a fortune. I’m Pro-Home Business.

However, I’m Anti-B.S. It absolutely disgusts me the amount of bad information that exists in my industry, and I am convinced that people involved with home businesses fail not because they are stupid or lazy, but because network marketing training and education is of pathetically low-quality. I believe, 100% without doubt that if MLM representatives received the training and education they needed and deserved, that 90% failure rate would flip to a 90% success rate. So today, we’ll be talking about:

HOME BUSINESS LIE # 5: “Just Let The Prospect View The Presentation / Talk To Your Upline/ Try The Product – Then The Prospect Will Just Close Themselves And Join Your Business”

Really? Do we really just close ourselves? Why do we buy in the first place?

Here is are two facts: PEOPLE LOVE TO BUY. AND PEOPLE HATE TO BE SOLD.

First, we absolutely hate to be sold something. Most of us have had that experience, where a pushy sleaze-ball salesman tried to sell us something. If we do buy it, most likely we felt like we were ripped off, and we resent that experience. We were sold.

But we absolutely love to buy. We love it so much, we will spend money that we don’t even have yet. The average household credit-card debt is in the $8,000 - $10,000 range. We love to buy, we enjoy the buying experience. When we participate in the buying process, we have fun when we purchase. It’s enjoyable.

But only buy in the presence of leadership. LEADERSHIP. Think about it. Lets look at two scenarios:

Scenario #1 - Think about when you go to the a coffee shop. As you look at the menu board, you realize that you have hundreds of choices in front of you. Hundreds. You know you want something good to drink, but you just don’t know where to start. If the person behind the counter knows what they’re doing, they will ask you some questions to help you decide what you’re looking for. They will ask questions like: “Can I help you? Well, would you like something fruity, or something tasting like coffee? Ok, well, do you want it hot or cold? Ok, you could have this or that beverage, my favorite is this.” When someone asks us questions like that, then two things happen.

1. WE RECOGNIZE LEADERSHIP. We know that the person is an expert at coffee service, because they are steering us down the decision-making process by asking us questions. They know the product/service so well, that when they ask us questions, we attribute that to leadership, and we buy in the presence of leadership.

2. WE ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE BUYING PROCESS. This is the fun part for us as consumers. We like to buy, and by participating in that transaction, we feel like we are calling the shots, and we’re enjoying it. We enjoy that interpersonal interaction, and having a person as our guide during that transaction makes us feel good.

But what happens when someone doesn’t demonstrate leadership? Lets see:

Scenario #2 – You walk into the coffee shop, same scenario as #1, but this time the person jumps from behind the counter and walks right up to you. “Would you like to try a sample? We have a special this week on coffee cake, here try some”. When you explain that you simply want a beverage, you notice they have a badge on their chest that says “Trainee”. This trainee doesn’t know the first thing about the menu. They can’t answer your questions. They don’t ask you anything. They just keep talking about the weekly special on coffee cake, and they keep trying to get you to buy it. When you finally close yourself on a beverage, the trainee cannot even ring the order up properly. You walk away frustrated, and in your mind, that coffee shop stinks.

The only difference between scenario #1 and scenario #2 is the person behind the counter. The coffee shop employee in scenario #1 closed the order quickly, conveniently, and effectively. The buyer enjoyed the process. The employee (sales person?) behind the counter wasn’t pushy, wasn’t the “salesy” type. They simply demonstrated leadership and confidence in their ability to get the consumer what they wanted. And even though the employee is being paid by the hour, they care enough about the consumer to actually reach out and help them to participate in the closing process to get them the exact beverage they are looking for. We love that. That is closing.

The coffee shop employee in scenario #2 didn’t care about leadership or confidence. They didn’t care about the consumer at all. They were annoying and unprofessional. They didn’t close anything. They attempted to sell something. And the consumer hated the process.

To grow your business, you are obligated to fulfill the desires of your consumer. You might get people into your business leading on opportunity, and you might hope that your upline will close your transactions for you, but if you have any hopes of building a true six-figure residual income from home, and having hundreds or thousands of happy, satisfied, clients and customers in your downline, then you have to be the expert of your business, and that means you have to develop the skills necessary to close your own transactions. And you have to close those transactions with the best interest of your prospect as your prime motivation. Otherwise, your prospect will know they have been sold. They will hate the process. They will also resent the person who “sold” them.

The Top 5 Bald-Faced Lies In Home-Based Business Training and Education (Part 5)

Stop selling. Start closing. If you don’t know how to close, then learn. If you do this, then your business (and your downline) will grow faster than you could possibly imagine.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

Good day all, this is Josh Fuson, and today we’re going to be steam-rolling a very common lie that is so common within the home-business industry (especially in Network Marketing and MLM) that is near-synonymous with the industry. If you happened to catch the first installment of this 5 part series, I gave a little background about myself, and my involvement with Network Marketing. You need to know that I’m not anti-MLM, or anti-home business. I think that the home business is the very definition of Entrepreneurial Capitalism, and I absolutely love the idea of a person embarking upon a venture, starting from scratch, with a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, and turning that into a fortune. I’m Pro-Home Business, networking, MLM, all that.

However, I’m Anti-B.S. It absolutely disgusts me the amount of bad information that exists in the MLM industry, and I am convinced that people involved with home businesses fail not because they are stupid, not because they are lazy, but because home-business training and education is of pathetically low-quality. I believe, 100% without doubt that if home-business personnel received the training and education they needed and deserved, that 90% failure rate would flip to a 90% success rate. With that in mind, let’s go ahead and slam-dunk a common un-truth that is all-to-common in this industry.

HOME BUSINESS LIE # 4: “TO REALLY GROW YOUR BUSINESS, HAND OUT BUSINESS CARDS, FLYERS, AND TALK TO EVERYONE YOU MEET (ESPECIALLY IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY) ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS”

We’ve all been there. We’re sitting at a coffee shop, or we’re at a restaurant, or we’re at the mall, and we see them.

The Networkers.

They’re handing out their card to everyone that walks by. Or they’re jumping in on other people’s conversations, explaining how they can show you the way to financial independence. Maybe they’ll even quote a well-noted author like Robert Kiyosaki as evidence that they have a vehicle with a one-way ticket to billionaireville. They’re just so excited about his opportunity that they’re about to explode, and they’re tying to get you to join them on their trek towards financial utopia.

How do I know this scenario so well? Because I used to be THAT GUY.

Look, I’m not proud of it. I recall with un-fond memory spending many a Saturday morning making a complete joke of myself, using these very same techniques to try and grow my business. Can you guess what happened?

It didn’t work.

Not only did I stay broke, but I felt like a total vulture, circling the sea of potential business-builders. It wasn’t that I was a devious or evil person, it was just how I was trained. Hotel meetings. Wasting paper on business cards. I’m sure that if I would have had access to a B-52 bomber, I would have loaded it full of flyers and business cards and dropped my “opportunity bomb” on every major city in the United States. And after, I would have gone straight home to wait for my phone to start ringing, with people on the other end just begging to join my business.

I was that naive.

So what changed? I figured some things out. I figured out how to find my target market. And then I learned how to compete.

Ask yourself this question: would Bill Gates, or Donald Trump, or Larry Ellison try to grow their businesses by bugging people at a coffee shop, and consider that advertising? Does Microsoft employ people to hang out at consumer establishments and attempt to recruit new software users there?

No, they don’t.

Here is what they do: they develop the right message, and send it to the right audience. They have commercials, billboards, online multi-media presentations, radio advertisements. They buy up space on stadium walls, they endorse NASCAR racers, they plaster their name on blimps. They get the message out to the masses, not the occasional purveyor of a Starbucks mocha.

Yeah, I know that you can’t afford to advertise during the super bowl. So what do you do? How do you compete? You compete in environments that level the playing field. There are three of these environments, and mastery in each of these is absolutely mandatory if you hope to grow a fortune from home.

ENVIRONMENT #1- The Telephone. Folks, mastery of the spoken word over the telephone is absolutely essential. Why? Well, first off, the phone is cheap, which seems to be a major stipulation for the average home-business person. VoIP has made the phone laughably affordable, and accessible to all. Then there is the leveling ability of the phone. If I was competing against Enterprise rent-a-car, or if I was competing against Burger King, the fact stands that I have just as much of a chance of success with my commercial versus their commercials in a telephone environment. While they might have the advantages of huge chains that are nationwide, and I only have a few homemade burgers and my own car for rent, I have just as much of a chance to win business as they do when talking to a prospect over the phone. It levels the playing field, because the only obvious thing that stands out in a prospects mind over the phone line is the skill-set of the person they’re talking to. It is this environment that you test and develop the right message, and locate your target market.

ENVIRONMENT #2- The Internet. Too many people think they can just buy a website out in e-world, and all of the sudden their computer is just going to start spitting out money from the monitor. You have to know how to drive traffic to your website, and on your website you must have a compelling message that you have crafted that speaks to the hearts of your target market. The reason you test and develop your message and locate your target market in the phone environment first is because it is a much less expensive process than doing it on the internet. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of the game once you hammer down your message and your audience. You can then channel your efforts to learning how advertising on the internet works, versus trying to develop that skill while simultaneously spending a lot of capital trying to establish your message and audience on the internet.

ENVIRONMENT #3- The Written Word. Copy is by far the most powerful of the three tools, and is the most advanced. It can have the largest financial rewards, and is also the most expensive skill to hone. That’s why it’s last. Once you generate profit over the phone, then expand those profits on the internet, you can start crafting copy that produces residual income like you’ve never imagined. Think of this as an example: Did you ever get to read a Mark Twain or Edgar Allen Poe piece while in school? Most of us have. Those guys have been dead for decades, generations, and still their work is producing huge amounts of income. They have powerful works, and the financial rewards from their efforts are still a reality years after they’ve expired. That’s residual income.

I can absolutely understand if you are thinking that all of this sounds difficult, and here’s the bottom line: building a million-dollar enterprise is not easy. If it was easy, then everyone would be doing it. A home business is never a cake-walk, but it is fundamentally simple. Once you have these three skills down cold, you’re done. You’ve made it. But refusing to attain the skill-set necessary is the equivalent of asking the marketplace to reward you unfairly for your non-effort. And while the market place is fickle and harsh, it is also fair, and the ‘something-for-nothing’ dreams entertained by so many are usually met with reality. Acknowledge the rules of the marketplace: Get skilled, and get paid.

The Top 10 Bald-Faced Lies In Home-Based Business Training and Education (Part 4)

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

THE NEXT LIE TO BE EXPOSED: “Just Let The Prospect View The Presentation / Talk To Your Upline/ Try The Product – Then The Prospect Will Just Close Themselves And Join Your Business”

The Top 10 Bald-Faced Lies In Home-Based Business Training and Education (Part 3)

Good morning everyone, Josh Fuson here again, and we’re continuing on our journey of laying the smack-down upon some of the most monstrous, flat-out lies that are perpetuated in and around the home-based business and network marketing industry. If you caught the first installment of this 5 part series, I gave a little background about my self, and my involvement with Network Marketing. To recap, you need to know that I’m not anti-MLM, or anti-home business. I think that the home business is the very definition of Entrepreneurial Capitalism, and I absolutely love the idea of a person embarking upon a venture, starting from scratch, with a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, and turning that into a fortune. I’m Pro-Home Business.

However, I’m Anti-B.S. It absolutely disgusts me the amount of bad information that exists in my industry, and I am convinced that people involved with home businesses fail not because they are stupid, not because they are lazy, but because home-business training and education is of pathetically low-quality. I believe, 100% without doubt that if home-business personnel received the training and education they needed and deserved, that 90% failure rate would flip to a 90% success rate. Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s get down to business.

HOME BUSINESS LIE # 3: “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE OUR PRODUCT ON THE MARKET; IT IS TRULY ONE-OF-A-KIND, AND WE HAVE NO COMPETITION!”

Bull. At least you better hope it’s bull.

Why?

Because if you truly have a product so unique, so one-of-a-kind that there is honestly nothing else like it on the market, you should seriously consider dumping it.

That’s right, consider walking.

The truth is that THE MARKETPLACE IS CROWDED WITH PRODUCTS, MANY OF THEM COMPARABLE TO YOUR PRODUCT. And this is a good thing. For starters, the fact that you actually have competitors is a very obvious sign that you have a product or service that has a target market large enough that it can support all the different competitors vying for market-share. Competition indicates that your particular product / service is in demand, and has probably maintained a demand for a substantial amount of time. This means that your product or service is not a fad; there is an established marketing niche associated with what you are bringing to the marketplace, and an established consumer base capable of sustaining numerous competitors for long-term and repeated consumption.

Competition offers the opportunity for improvement, for introducing new and more effective solutions to an existing product. Competition is the catalyst for more viable and satisfying products, to offer the consumer more for their money. It sparks innovation, and drives manufacturers to constantly be improving and testing new and creative ideas.

If someone is telling you that they have a “brand new, competition-free” item, take a real hard look at what is being offered. Before buying that line, asking yourself a couple of good questions could save yourself a whole lot of money and wasted effort:

1) IS THIS ACTUALLY SOMETHING BRAND NEW, NEVER-BEFORE SEEN? OR IS IT SIMPLY AN IMPROVEMENT TO AN EXISTING PRODUCT OR SERVICE? This will clarify (at least in your own mind) if what you’re dealing with is a product of innovation, or simply a manufacturer betting that the equation will be FAD + HYPE = consumption.

2) AFTER ANSWERING QUESTION #1, IF YOU DECIDE THAT IT ACTUALLY IS SOMETHING BRAND NEW, ASK YOURSELF: IS THERE REALLY ENOUGH MARKET DEMAND TO SUPPORT THIS TYPE OF PRODUCT OR SERVICE? This is where it pays to do your homework. If someone is offering a home-business opportunity, and one of the key characteristics of the opportunity is the fact that there is no competition, figure out if the manufacturer has done enough research to substantiate the premise that what they have to offer can honestly be supported by the market of consumers outside of individuals looking for a business opportunity. Be wary, however; products and services that purport to satisfy “new” or “evolved” needs and desires are most often accompanied by a generous helping of hype and exaggeration.

If you come to the conclusion that what you are offering is an improvement to an existing item, then sigh with relief, and find out what characteristics separate your product from the rest of the pack. That difference is your banner, and is crucial to positioning yourself as an expert bringing an innovative solution to the consumer. If you come to the conclusion that what you have truly is a one-of-a-kind, no-competitors-in-sight item, then devote some time and energy to determine whether this is something that is actually marketable. Most of the time (at least in the home-business industry), the product is simply and improvement, not truly a stand-alone item. Finally, make sure you don’t rely on hype in your own marketing campaign; it crucifies your credibility. And it’s obvious.

Remember, competition is a good thing. The fact that it exists in your industry merely shows that you have a real opportunity to profit. Stop trying to find a market with no competition. Start competing.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

THE NEXT LIE TO BE EXPOSED: “TO REALLY GROW YOUR BUSINESS, HAND OUT BUSINESS CARDS, FLYERS, AND TALK TO EVERYONE YOU MEET (OR WITHIN 3 FEET) ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS”

The Top 10 Bald-Faced Lies In Home-Based Business Training and Education (Part 2)

We’re going to be covering some vital information here today. If you caught the first installment of this 5 part series, I gave a little background about my self, and my involvement with Network Marketing. To recap, you need to know that I’m not anti-MLM, or anti-home business. I think that the home business is the very definition of Entrepreneurial Capitalism, and I absolutely love the idea of a person embarking upon a venture, starting from scratch, with a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, and turning that into a fortune. I’m Pro-Home Business.

However, I’m Anti-B.S. It absolutely disgusts me the amount of bad information that exists in my industry, and I am convinced that people involved with home businesses fail not because they are stupid, not because they are lazy, but because home-business training and education is of pathetically low-quality. I believe, 100% without doubt that if home-business personnel received the training and education they needed and deserved, that 90% failure rate would flip to a 90% success rate. But enough about that, let’s continue on.

HOME BUSINESS LIE # 2: “TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS, MAKE A LIST OF 100 PEOPLE YOU KNOW, AND TALK TO THEM ABOUT GETTING INVOLVED IN YOUR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY”

Of all the mis-information out there, this is the lie that absolutely makes me sick.

Seriously, I’m puking in my trashcan right now.

This is the lie that causes MLM’ers and Network Marketers to become completely ostracized by their friends and family, and eventually leads to a reputation on par that of the lowest caste in our society. It is this strategy that will ruin more relationships in a faster amount of time than you believed possible. This “warm-market” marketing is, strangely, a marketing model propagated by nearly all Network Marketing manufacturers to their distributors and consultants, and nowhere else in the entire business world.

Sure, some businesses rely heavily on referrals and recommendations, but the bottom line is that you just don’t hear of McDonald’s or Avis Rent-A-Car asking their employees to bring their friends and family to their establishment so the manager can get a paycheck. Just doesn’t happen.

The reality is that there exists a much better, much easier way. But first, we absolutely have to be objective about the industry that we are in. And here is what an objective view offers: it offers the perspective that every other profitable, successful business in existence looks at their TARGET MARKET as the primary focus of their marketing campaign, not the personal relationships of their employees.
So what is your target market? Good question, it depends on the product or service. Start with what you are offering: What are the primary benefits and values of your product or service? What group of individuals would elicit the largest demand for your particular product or service? As a distributor, finding the answer to that question is 50% of your only real responsibility in prospecting. To clarify, as a distributor and business owner, your mission during prospecting is:

1) Find (and develop) the right message. You have to craft the right message, the message that adequately offers a compelling and benefits-based reason for your prospect to take advantage of your product or service (not your opportunity). Look, everyone is an opportunist, so the opportunity should never be your lead in any marketing campaign. Always lead with the product or service.

2) Find the right audience. The right audience is your Target Market. This is the group of individuals that will most positively respond to the product or service that you are offering.

So here is what happens when a distributor puts all the pieces together: the distributor is leading with the product or service, offering a compelling message to a group of individuals that already have a need/want/desire for that type of product or service(the Target Market). That way, the distributor attracts product consumers to a solution that is being offering, bringing value to the marketplace. Since everyone is an opportunist, the consumer is also shown how to get the product for free, or even make a profit by doing what the distributor is doing, so that the downline is attracting a sales force that is truly passionate about the product, simply because their encounter with the distribution channel started as a solution to a problem and ended with an opportunity to subsidize their usage of that solution.

Doesn’t that sound better than trying to convince your co-workers to join your team? Or recruiting at the local coffee shop? Or handing out business cards and flyers at the mall? Further more, consider this: how long would it take for Wal-Mart to go out of business it focused all of its time and resources attempting to recruit all their new shoppers from the bloodlines of their employees?

Take it from Wal-Mart: the Target Market is where success is at.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.

THE NEXT LIE TO BE EXPOSED: “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE OUR PRODUCT ON THE MARKET; IT IS TRULY ONE-OF-A-KIND, AND WE HAVE NO COMPETITION!”

The Top 5 Biggest Bald-Faced Lies In Home Business Training And Education - Part 1

Chances are, if you’ve been around on this planet for more than 10 minutes, you’ve been approached by someone who had the “absolute opportunity of a lifetime”, or some other way to make huge money in a very short amount of time.

Yep, I’m talking about Home Businesses, specifically, network marketing.

In recent years, the reputation regarding home businesses and network marketing has gone from bad to worse. And with the average household debt hovering around the $8,000 mark, most people are looking for ways of generating some extra cash. So starting a home business sounds like a pretty good idea, right?

In fact, it sounds like a great idea once someone makes the decision to start researching their options. Just look up “home business opportunity” on any search engine, and everyone and their mom has a multi-million, self-automated system for generating you the cash you need starting yesterday. At first glance, it looks like a person couldn’t lose.

Well, here’s a fact: over 90% of ALL home businesses fail. And I say “fail” as in the owner generally loses hundreds or even thousands of dollars. How do I know this? Because that’s exactly what happened to me. That’s right, I’m an MLM veteran, and I know first-hand the B.S. that exists in this industry.

When I first got involved, I spend thousands and thousands of hard-earned dollars trying to get my business into profit. Eventually I did generate a very successful enterprise, but it sure as hell wasn’t because of anything my company or my upline told me. Over the next several weeks, I will be taking the liberty to explore and expose some of the most bold and devious lies that exist in the home-business industry, and as I go though and debunk these myths, I will also be accompanying that exposure with some common-sense truth, so that if you are thinking about getting into this industry (or if you are already in this industry), you can take stock and start asking some good questions that deserve good answers.

First, let’s get on the same page: I’m not anti-MLM, or anti-home business. I think that the home business is the very definition of Entrepreneurial Capitalism, and I absolutely love the idea of a person embarking upon a venture, starting from scratch, with a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, and turning that into a fortune. I’m Pro-Home Business.

But I am Anti-B.S. It absolutely disgusts me the amount of bad information that exists in my industry, and I am convinced that people involved with home businesses fail not because they are stupid, not because they are lazy, but because home-business training and education is of pathetically low-quality. I believe, 100% without doubt that if network marketing distributors received the training and education they needed and deserved, that 90% failure rate would flip to a 90% success rate. But enough about that, let’s get started.

HOME BUSINESS LIE # 1: “OUR COMPANY IS GROWING AT UNPRECEDENTED RATES! WE’VE GROWN OVER 10 MILLION PERCENT IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS, AND IT’S LOOKING TO BE THE NEXT (insert name of large corporation here, e.g. Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Whatever)”

This type of statement is what is commonly referred to as “hype”, and unfortunately, a lot of people get suckered into this line of thinking.

Here is the truth: IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW FAST THE COMPANY IS GROWING.

I’m sure you’re asking “what do you mean it doesn’t matter?” The reason it doesn’t matter is because a home business is not a stock option. In other words, if you are viewing a networking business as some sort of hands-off investment vehicle like a mutual fund, you’re dead wrong. A business (any business, not just a home business) is a living entity, and it takes effort (lots of it) to make it a profitable entity.

No matter how fast or slow the company is growing, here are two questions to ask, and the answer to these questions will be of far greater importance in determining how fast your own distribution line will grow:

#1) How do you treat your business? Do you have an actual plan on how to grow and develop your business, or are you just going to wing-it and hope for the best? Even worse, are you hoping that your company will provide you with the education and training you need to grow your business for you? Just ask yourself this question: how well has that company’s training worked for me? (And if you haven’t gotten involved yet, how well is it working for the goofball trying to pitch you on this business? If it’s working so bloody well for them, why are they trying to get your money involved?)

#2) Are you passionate about your product? And I’m not talking about the opportunity. I’m talking about the actual product, the actual items that your company distributes. In other words, did you get involved just to make a million bucks, or did you get involved because you actually enjoy the nutritional aids, or the skin-care, or the legal service, or the household products, or whatever it is that your company produces?

Do yourself a favor: flush the hype, and take an honest look at yourself and answer the two above-listed questions. Do that, and you will have taken the first step towards joining the ranks of those who do succeed.

For more information about how to grow your network marketing business, refer to my website http://www.MLM-Truth.info

I, Josh Fuson, accept full responsibility for these words. If you have any questions regarding this material, you can contact me directly at my home office at 641-856-7555. Copyright 2006 Fuson Enterprises.

Joshua Fuson has an extensive background in both the home business industry as well as the network marketing industry. He is most noted, however, for his teaching ability, his to-the-point style, and his no-nonsense approach to business.