My husband, Mark, and I have wanted to own a business since before we were married. We would pass empty storefronts and daydream about the best business for that space. In 2011, God saw fit to put all of the pieces in place for our dream to become a reality.
Since our business is a brick-and-mortar (meaning a physical building), no one has ever questioned its legitimacy. We’ve never had to defend our choice or convince anyone that we are “real business owners.” The same cannot be said of my network marketing business. Since I consider myself to be a savvy businesswoman, it has never made sense to me that I have this struggle. I want to compare our brick-and-mortar business model to a network marketing business model so you can understand why it is absolutely a viable business.
(If you’re wondering what this has to do with my normal content, check out this blog post from 2018.)
Why Network Marketing Is a Viable Business Model
- When we started our business, it cost us more than $100,000 just to open the doors. We had to pay for our equipment, our building, our utilities, our products, etc. This led to a lot of debt. Most network marketing companies, however, let you “open your doors” for less than $1000, most for far less than that. The company I joined has starter packs for as low as $199. There is no other industry where you can start a business for such a small investment.
- Each month, we have to make enough money to cover our overhead costs before we turn a profit. Our monthly costs include our building, utilities, insurance, salaries, etc. For a network marketing business, there is no overhead. You can work from your couch or the park. As long as you have an internet connection, your business can thrive.
- In our business, we only make money when the doors are open and when we have a customer in the shop. If our doors are open and our lights are on, but there aren’t any customers, our business is costing us money instead of making us money. In my network marketing business, I can wake up to find that I’ve made money. I can choose to focus on only those activities that bring in sales from current or new customers. I can create content once that brings in customers over and over again.
- In any brick-n-mortar business, the average is 5 years before you make a profit. Remember the debt we incurred to open our doors? That coupled with the cost of overhead makes it difficult to make a profit. And 5 years is the average, which means there are some businesses that take much longer. In a network marketing business, you can turn a profit very quickly. In the business I do, you can turn a profit in your first weekend!
Hobby vs. Business
So you might be asking, “then why do so many people ‘fail’ at network marketing?”
It boils down to treating the network marketing business like a hobby instead of a business.
One of the things we have to do in our brick-and-mortar is to let people know we are here. We have to talk about the business and the products. We have to put feet to the ground and go places where our ideal customers hang out. In your network marketing business, you have to share, and you have to share often! You can’t keep it to yourself and expect people to come to you. This is why it is so important that you believe in the products you are selling. When you believe in the products, you’re excited to talk about them.
Another thing we have to do if we want to succeed in our business is to show up! When we talk about “time freedom” in our network marketing business, it means that we can work fewer hours, and we get to decide which hours we will work, but we still have to work. So often, we believe the lie that we don’t have to work and we can still get paid. Schedule your hours and show up for them just as if you had a boss looking over your shoulder. This can be flexible, but it still has to happen.
If you’ve been looking for a way to create something for yourself and your family as we stare into an uncertain future, I would love to tell you about the company I chose. Click here to check it out, or send me an email at kelli@kelligarms.com to ask me your questions.
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