“Show me the money” – a very important question in network marketing today.

A high percentage of people are susceptible to hype  and unfortunately that’s how many of them get into network marketing.

You may perhaps sit in a presentation and the speaker explains all the maths on the commission plan – great!

Next you sit at home and look at your bonus check and you cannot understand why it is so small.

There is a huge difference between the maths of a bonus plan and the actual way it works in combination with the policies and procedures and all the rules which need to be observed for qualification.

We call it “the hoops you need to jump through”

So when you are listening to a presentation a very legitimate question will be: “How many people do I need for a 10k walk away residual income a month”

There is a big likelihood that even the presenter will have not a clue what this number is and consequently he will either evade and  jump to other topics of he may tell you straight that he will have to work it out.

You definitely need this number as it is kind of qualifying the performance of the commission plan.

Lesson learned: Maths and  Hype are no adequate advisors when it comes to choosing a network marketing business!

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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It is an open secret that in network marketing today the failure rate is above 90%. How can that be?

Most people who join a network marketing business join a network marketing opportunity as they are excited either about a product or about the chance of “owning their lives”. They sign up as they trust the person who presented the opportunity to them.

They start their work full of enthusiasm and follow the instructions they get from their sponsor, if they get any at all. Mostly it will be things like”make a list of friends and family and buy leads.

Let’s go for buying leads first – that is a treacherous way of doing anything as to be on the legal side you need to have leads who opted into YOUR offer. I someone reports you as spammer you need to be able to provide the opt in details and the opt-in IP.

Making a list of friends and family may work for some if they happen to have people around them who have a similar mindset and similar needs. It doesn’t work at all of they have their own different jobs or businesses which are totally unrelated to marketing.

Just imagine you want to have your house painted – would you  advertise for doctors to do so? Well, you may laugh but that’s just what it is if your friends and family are not at all interested in anything like network marketing it is hopeless to perhaps try and talk them into it. Just as un likely  as having a doctor paint your house.

Another big topic  will be the company you join itself.

1. Which kind of a commission plan do they have?
2. How many and which hoops to you have to jump through to qualify
3. What are the policies and procedure like – are they only for the company and without consideration for you?
4. Are their products fairly priced?

These are just 4 critical points you need to look at. Most people may require education to  be able to read a commission plan or the legal text of the contract so don’t feel bad if you are having a hard time going through this material. That is why mentoring for free is available online – an organisation of volunteers who set out to help.

You may find lots of training online on how to build a business  and there are many people who have quite good knowledge on how to work, like:

How to build relationships.well, give support to your team, help them on all levels, etc.

However, if you are an average person the best training in the world will not make you a real winner if the cards are stacked against you

and you have missed out on investigating if the company you have joined is the right background for achieving your dreams!

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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Contracts!

What are contracts in Network Marketing Today? 

The contracts are 

the Policies and Procedures!

Talking to network marketers of today you will quickly learn that only few people  ever read their policies and procedures- what a plight! This is a huge handicap for success!

Have you ever heard that somebody who invests into any kind of business will not read their contract carefully or even have it checked by a lawyer who specializes in business contracts? Not really. The reason for it is that the investments to be made are far too high to take any risk.

There is not so much difference between conventional business and network marketing today.

• In conventional business you invest lots of money and then pay back for years until you reach the break even point when you finally start  making money that actually belongs to you.
• In network marketing you are investing your time till you finally reach the point where you earn good money as you have finally reached success.

In either case the risk is the same, if you have not made sure you are in a good contract. In conventional business you might be out of business long before you reach the break even point and in network marketing you might wake up with a big bump when you finally realise that your efforts only benefitted the company you are with as they can terminate you any time as they desire to in accordance with the policies and procedures which you have never read.

You never even realised that they contained clauses like “ongoing support for your downline” or “termination at the sole discretion of the company” or “contract renewal  at the sole discretion of the company” and many more. It might even be so bad that your check stops without forewarning for any of the stated reasons or many others in fact and you only realise then the mistake you made.

Do you  start “seeing” the importance of reading your contract? Find it now and read it to at least minimize damage! If you need help say so!

To Your Safe Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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Free Company Web-shop?

Yes of course! After all as a distributor you have to abide with all the detailed company descriptions about your product. The company normally has checked it all out legally and whatever there is on their home page should be safe.

• This is one big reason why it should make sense for any company to give their distributors a web-shop and  since the distributors are doing all the advertising so that the products are turned it would be a fair sharing of efforts between the company and the distributors.

So why are there so many companies out there who don’t do this?

As it is know that most network marketing companies hire their software/database and don’t own it – well additional web-shops might be a cost factor for them and so they charge their distributors – very likely even making profit on the web-shop.

• The second issue about not owning the software/database is that very often the small print contains clauses that the software company owns the data base – I wrote about this before.

Another reason may be a commission plan issue – as in a binary plan, for instance,   where the payments can only be made if an adequate number of distributors fail at building a network marketing business – it may well be a welcome additional income for the company to have a fee on the web-shop – paid not only by those who make money, abut also by the big number of people who will fail in their venture of building their network marketing business successfully.

The argument of the companies may be “it would cost you a lot more to do it yourself” and that in view of perhaps policies and procedures which even contain restrictions as to internet marketing. Yes – you read correctly – this still exists. there are companies who do not like major marketing activities on line – most odd reasons given.

So spinning this thread further if you are looking at a company which will be charging you for the web-shop or perhaps even charging you  twice – also taking money  for your genealogy report, etc., then I guess you better look twice:

• read the policies and procedures very intently and also check out the pros and cons of the commission plan. the entire package may well not be what you want to put your effort in for. After all you want to have success at building your network marketing business today!

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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Pillars have become a symbol for long-term strength and stability.

Therefore it is no surprise that the 5 pillars have become a representation of value for a network company today.

I have given a general overview about "A Solid Company", listing the 5 pillars, in a previous blog so let’s this time go into a bit more details what the 5 pillars are all about when it comes to success in network marketing today. Mind you for in-depth training on this topic you will have to go through our training.

Let’s discuss the first pillar here:

Company Management:

There is no doubt that the management of a company is a really important point – however, what do you have to look for in a company management?

Well, most important of all: does the company management have personal experience building their own networking organization and have they done it with integrity?

Why is this so important? I give you a picture: “Would you ask a lawyer to fix the brakes of your car?” – No – the lawyer is a highly trained expert and should know what he is doing? No? You’d never? Why are you against this idea? Of course the lawyer is an expert in legal matters and not in car repair! Can you see my point? In very much the same manner you need experts at network marketing run a network marketing company today.

Having made this basic requirement clear, let’s investigate “have they done it with integrity”?

Search Google for the owners of the company and see who they are, what their “story” is. Look back in their lives and you might even want to add the word ‘Scam’ to your search. The level of integrity is the goal of this search, and of course if they have personal experience at building a network marketing organisation from scratch.

The legal background, your policies and procedures also goes into this investigation with many topics, the overall one being – does the contact protect you or the company?

Another hot context in the basic legal set-up of a network marketing company is:

”If a company is publicly traded, Financial Decisions Will be made in Favor of the Stockholders at the Expense of the Distributors”.

There is lots of legal language involved in this investigation and you might want support in investigating this topic – this blog is simply to alert you about this topic.

Connect if you need this kind of support – that’s part of our free training.

We have your success at network marketing at heart!

Stay tuned for the second pillar.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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 A Network Marketing Business is FUN!

(If it is “unfun” you are doing something completely wrong!)

In conventional business FUN is not really an attribute which is used very often – it is topics like strategy, performance, numbers, meeting pre-set turnover, economizing, labour cost and many other things, that are being discussed and handled. Mostly all of these aspects are considered seriously and control on all levels kicks in.

After all the company, the management  need to make money on the back of the work of many employees.  The present economy is bemoaned, political decisions, the international market and which ever influence which might serve as an excuse for not performing to target. The discussion focus is on “difficult and hard”, not on FUN. Or have you ever heard giving network marketing as an industry with good growth rates which can serve as an example? I bet you haven’t!

It is very different in network marketing. It is FUN! You may wonder why I say FUN should be one of the key element in network marketing today – after all I have claimed in previous posts that network marketing is a business as any other. Yes, as far as its legal status is concerned, as it may even be handed on to heirs if the company policies and procedures allow it (and very often they don’t – so beware what you chose!).

But network marketing is a business that centers around people. What’s even better – we have the choice who we take into our business – we certainly don’t need everyone nor do we want everyone! You need to see that network marketing is a business for life so anyone who comes into your business will be a person who you will be in business with for a life time.

Yes there is a work part – in fact a lot of work, focus, dedication, persistence, planning, as in every other business too. But there is this human factor of having business partners for life who become friends, good friends over time and we share conventions, company trips and more.

It would be huge “unfun” if we’d have to go on a cruise with a bunch of people who we don’t like. It would be huge “unfun” to do workshops with people we don’t like – no matter if online or somewhere in a seminar center in real life .

So when you decide to go into network marketing today, make sure you clarify all the clauses in the policies and procedures which might prove “unfun” later on and make sure you choose those business partners you can imagine to be on a 3 months cruise with,  having FUN and enjoying life!

To Your FUN – Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor with A Servant’s Heart

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 You have been doing network marketing all you life!

Even as a small child you knew what you wanted – you saw a toy or a sweet and you found a way to “market” it  to your parents and your buddies – either for getting it yourself or for letting others have it too because it had so much appeal to you.

Later you perhaps saw a film and you were thrilled and in no time your testimony sent others to see that film too. Or perhaps you were sent to a school and you liked it so much there that you wanted others to know about it.

Testimonies of course can work both ways – you may find something so disgusting that you express it too and this NONO testimony for sure will stop many from doing/having the same thing too.

Let’s stick to the positive. Now as an adult you perhaps have gone to a restaurant and had the most lovely evening imaginable – the food was good, the service excellent, they even had live music playing – you for sure will talk about this experience and the restaurant will be getting plenty of business as a result of your excellent testimony.

This story could go on and on. Every day you give a testimony for something you like and somebody is enjoying additional business as a result.

Let me ask you – did you ever get paid for this effort? Did you only ever get a thank you or a hand shake? NO?

Most people consider this a normal state of affairs, however some people understand the power of giving testimonies and start their own network marketing business. Network marketing is simply building a business on the power of testimonies.

Find yourself a company with excellent policies and procedures, an outstanding commission plan, a management team with integrity and experience in network marketing and a powerful system that duplicates. Perhaps you wonder why I don’t include excellent product in the list – well most network marketing companies have good products or they wouldn’t be in business.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

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Packing things in cotton wool doesn’t solve problems.

True – a positive attitude and a healthy self worth are essential necessities to proceed well in life and business. However there is a lot of misunderstanding around this topic.

If the truth is negative it will not become positive by keeping quiet about it or by talking around it.

It happens at times that people attack me as a coach in mentoring for free – they claim we put out too much negative stuff.

So here is what happens: To make sure that people have a chance to avoid the many traps and crappy offers which are floating around we make an effort to gather them and explain them so that people can SEE.

It doesn’t matter if it is a commission plan concept which will not pay the average person but only a few at the top or policies and procedures which put the distributors of a company at a disadvantage or even bind them totally. Most people don’t understand commission plans or contracts to the extent that they are aware what they are in for. The sad thing about it –  people dream of retiring early, however in many cases the policies and procedures contain a NO NO NEVER – it might say: To get a check you have to provide ongoing training or what I read just recently – you will be terminated if you have not been active for more than 12 months … doesn’t sound like being able to retire ever.

Unfortunately this is only one example of what to watch out for there’s lots more.

Of course stuff like that is negative – yet not telling people is not only negative but crappy – I feel it is a great service to alert people to awareness. Only when you avoid what will harm you, can you have a truly positive experience of life and of building a successful network marketing business.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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Today network marketing is an excellent chance to make money online. Once you focus, learn the required skills, take control of the work you do in a collaborative team you should be able to achieve your desired goal.

You agree? – Well , why do you think statistics tell us another story?

Signing up  for a network marketing business – no matter if online or on paper – what you are required to check-mark the policies and procedures as accepted. Everybody does so. However only a very small percentage of all people ever read them in the first place and of those who read them quite a number don’t fully understand them and accept them as “legal  talk that is required”. It is a fact, however, that it is the contents of these policies and procedures which lets many people fail in network marketing.

There are all sorts of tricky clauses which are not taken serious in the process. People miss the awareness that these clauses are contained to be used and they will be the victim. I want to give you a few examples:

• Renewal: There are companies who claim they need it to be able to get rid of the “black sheep among the distributors – hm…
• Termination clauses: for the most varied reasons – mind you – as a rule these are applied once you start earning more money – when you are terminated then it saves the company a lot of money!
• Your Spouse is forbidden to have another business – it is enacted by companies but it is not within human rights to forbid a spouse to  have another business of their own – it is – hm -  like “slavery”.
• A great number of subtle “hoops” not easy to see or find

The above list is are hints and it is by far not complete. To really know what you are  in for you might need help to analyze.

I do hope you are now aware of the importance of policies and procedures and you will make sure you investigate them thoroughly so that you will not be in for a major surprise at some stage of your career.

If you have not had the success you dream of so far this might be one of the things you need to look into – in most cases your lack of success is not your fault.

To have a healthy business with  long-term stability, where teamwork, flexibility, respect, collaboration, both within the team and with the company are part of the everyday business culture you need to know that you have a good balance on all levels of the business you are working.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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You are right – a commission plan is a normal feature in MLM.

Unfortunately too many people don’t ever take the time to investigate the commission plan in detail nor in fact their policies and procedures. Both of these items are equally critical when it comes to securing success – none can be given priority – it’s kind of a question “who comes first the egg or the hen”. therefore let’s simply  discuss commission plans today.

• The very first question for you to ask is:  “What do I have to do to earn my first money”. If the answer to this question is jumping through hoops and finding a number of people – RUN
• Next: “Which qualification do I have to meet to stay qualified for commissions”. So if you have to do more than just a certain personal sales, like having to sponsor one two or more, or even if the required personal sales is too high – RUN
• Another critical point is that in some plans personal requirements increase with increasing income – that is where I ask you – how will you ever be able to retire on such a plan? Some people tell me they simply throw away the products they need to buy – this seems an awful waste if you ask me. But often you also need to sponsor people in the process. Say you have built a fair income and now you want to go on a 3 months’ cruise with your family – how will you do this if you have to sponsor, e.g., a couple of people per month to be eligible for commission. Might be an idea to RUN before you get into this tight spot!
• How about this one: You need to prove that you are an active coaching and training partner for your team on an ongoing basis…

An these are just a few examples of what you may encounter when you study your commission plan.

A good question to ask yourself or rather whoever wants to sponsor you into a business is: “How many people do I need for a 10K residual income” – and watch out – this doesn’t comprises bonuses which as a rule are one time payments!

I hope this gets you thinking about the topic! If you need help to analyze the commission plan you are in, simply be in touch – we gladly will help you for free.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

Your Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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Life and all that is part of it is prone to accumulating clutter. We are so used to our house, environment, office, wardrobe, shelves, business, network marketing business, that we become blind to its subtle change, the blur that comes in and eventually becomes so dense.

We may stop seeing the outlines, the necessities and may wade in the fog wondering why we are not having the success we dream of.

Of course we are aware we need targeted leads, build relationships with our prospects, make sure they get training and are plugged into a network marketing system that duplicates.

The blur, however, will haze our mind and the whole concept may be or become overwhelming that we cannot focus on what needs to be done next.

In the corporate world much the same happens in companies and as a rule when things  are going down management calls in outside experts who are not “involved” who will see clear, who will give support in analysing which things have gone wrong…

Well you can do the same – accept an offer for free coaching, take a hand offered and follow the guidance.

• start with the basics and check your policies and procedures, your commission plan and consequently become aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your business. It happens that the entire situation is “not your fault”.
• check if the way you do your work is a system that duplicates. You need a system which will adapt for every personality type if you actually want to succeed.
• and check if the system you are working is up to date, because if you follow instructions which may have worked some 15 or more years ago – they are very likely outdated today

To make sure that your “love of the products, business, work environment” doesn’t blur your perception you need this outside input.

Warning:

The truth may not be pleasant – but better to know it now than later if you want to base your life and future on what you are doing.

You deserve the best – nothing but the very best!

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

Your Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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MLM software is expensive. That’s why most MLM companies rent their software. In most cases it cannot be adapted fully to fit their business model, and the distributor base suffers as a result.

Let me tell you a story about a network marketing company. They had a binary compensation plan, which is a plan where you build two legs – a left one and a right one. Unfortunately the software they rented did not permit changing from left to right and vice versa and they had to have programmers in to do it and of course that cost time as well as money. It took them about half a year to get it sorted out.

In the mean time there were people who had already built one strong leg. In a binary plan you then need to re-adjust in your back office and get the new sign-ups on your weak leg so that you get paid. You get paid on your weak leg! And in that case people thought that the new sign ups were going in your weak leg.

What happened with that company was that this change over just didn’t work and after a while distributors found out and approached the company to move the new people. The company hired lots of people to handle the changes yet couldn’t cope. They even started to charge the distributors per change-over although it was the company’s mess and in the end they stopped doing it altogether.

This is a perfect example of buying software which doesn’t fit the purpose at all.

On the other hand when you rent the software, you better read the fine print, as you don’t own the database! You have heard right:

You Do Not Own The Database!

Michael Dlouhy told us that he saw a downline genealogy for sale on the internet and he happen to know the owners of the company. So he called them and asked them what was going on – if the company wasn’t doing well. He heard that the company was doing great yet had had to rent the software and the software company owned the data base.

This software company made a nice lump sum of money by selling the data base to a bunch of companies. It had been in the Policies and Procedures, that the software company owned the genealogy!

 How would you like to build your business and then have your organization for sale on the internet?

It has to be one of the critical questions when you check out a company, if they own their software. Renting is a lot cheaper and most companies don’t have the 2 million dollars to buy it when they start.

It certainly is the best choice to opt for a company who had their software custom built! When the company had it built and owns it, the distributor base is safe. Instead, for starting a network marketing company quickly, the owners rent the software and are in business in no time. If it is your business – what do you do?

They know that network marketing is a tough business. They know that most companies don’t survive the first 2 years. So renting software minimizes the risk. But how about you? This is a dangerous secret!

What about another well kept secret: The software company will be a partner of the MLM company – it means that the MLM company builds an organization, a leg,  for the software company. It creates a retirement income for the software company on the backs of the distributors. Is it a problem for the owners of the MLM company to move all their orphan distributors underneath the software company so they receive a nice check? What a secret!

It is one more reason why you need to base your future on a company with an owned custom made software!

Do you start realising why education in this industry is critically important – especially when you are capable of building a downline well. Background knowledge saves you from having to cry over spilled milk  at a later stage!

To Your Success!

Frieke Karlovits

A mentor With A Servant’s Heart

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