Sell for Today, Sponsor for Tomorrow

So you are working at your home based business and the check don't seem all that big. Maybe the checks are not even coming at all, or you are paying out money instead of having it come in. This is known as negative cash flow. They say in traditional business you will lose money for the first 3-5 years. Capitol (cash) is what is needed for any new start-up. 

Well I'm here to show you how to do it without any money. No huge investment or loan is needed to get started with a home based business. Matter of Fact I have home-made brochure that explains how I got started with a $35 investment. I can show you how to hit the ground running, and start off with a bang that will get your cash flow up immediately. You might not be able to live off the income in the first 3-5 years but you will be positive cash flow, or "In the Black" the very first year. 

As the title of the article says: Sell for Today, Sponsor for Tomorrow. The meaning of this in a home-based or Network Marketing business is that you have to have a product that people want and need. Your first priority is to get that product out in the hands of many people. Your product should be consumable so you can get repeat business time and time again. The idea is to sell your product to someone once then resell over and over again. Take Care of the customer and they will take care of you. You should have a product that can be sold retail. If you cannot compete in a retail market the only customers you will have are those you sign up as distributors, this could take a very long time to get your residual commissions coming in. Likewise with the company that I started with; I chose to get out in the retail marketplace. Five, Ten, Fifty or a Hundred stores carrying your product is like having hundreds of sales people out there. Many of the stores that I worked with years ago still carry our products. This is because customers are still coming in to buy. A store is open 60-80 hours per week, could you work that many hours in that many locations?

Secondly, retail brings you a higher commission. Most home-based companies pay commissions based on volume of products going through that business. If you are working with only distributors, some of those commissions must be paid on your sponsored distributor before you can get paid. A company only pays once on any product sold. If you are buying products, selling retail you get 100% of the commission due to you. Stated again Sell for Today, Sponsor for Tomorrow. 

Selling retail actually takes a little more work than just registering dealers and letting them build their business. A new distributor will naturally want to get started earning a commission, but in truth it takes a long time for most to understand and learn about building a business, sales, recruiting, training, etc. The commissions you gain from sponsoring will bear fruit in the years to come. But you didn't start your home business to wait years for a good sized commission. You want commissions now, maybe an extra $500 per month is really all you need right now. This accomplishment can be done is a short amount of time if you work your business correctly. 

My positive cash flow started in the first couple months of my business and has continued every year. As more money comes in I was able to add more to the business, get new "toys", have a better cell phone, do more things etc. Going after retail first then distributors second especially in the first year or 2 will make a huge difference in your ability to earn at least a check every single money in your business. 

Just like there are 2 sides to every coin, I look at a home business as having 2 sides. There is the retail side explained above to get that immediate cash flow, then there is the sponsorship side where you learn how to train and build a sales team. Sell for Today, Sponsor for Tomorrow means starting right away helping others achieve their goals and dreams by building their own home based business. Matter of fact my sponsor died several years ago and his spouse still gets a check every single month from those initial efforts of sponsoring me into the business. This is one of the best reasons to have a home based business. Your work continues to pay you time and time again even if you can't work. Sponsoring adds depth and breadth to your business, it allows the peaks and valleys to even out in your sales efforts. There might be a time when your retail sales efforts slow down for a short bit, this could be due to your lack of time to devote that part of the business, or maybe a bump in the economy where people are just not buying much. Either way sponsoring a team of distributors will help even out those months. Sponsoring is the key to higher levels of recognition as well as higher incomes in a home based business.

So you want to sponsor but you don't know who or how to get them started. The first thing you should be doing is prospecting. Let everyone know what you are doing and  have a mission statement that you can tell others. Mine goes like this. 

Mission Statement:

1. I help customers save money, get the best products with the highest performance per cost in (insert your product here) our industry. 
2. Provide a vehicle for financial independence to anyone who wants it.

You see this two fold mission lets everyone know what I'm doing and that they too can become a distributor without actually pitching it to them.

Get your mission statement together now, this will help solidify your goal of building a profitable business. Maybe you are currently involved in a company and are not seeing the results you like, maybe you don't feel you have a product that will sell at the retail level. If you are in a company with the only way to earn money is to sponsor you might want to reevaluate if this company will allow you to meet your goals. The number one way to determine if your home business will work in the manner I have described above is to ask yourself. Does my company push the product or the opportunity? A product oriented company will continue to grow, it will be stable and always try to provide a product in the marketplace that customers want and need. 

When you evaluate a company use these 10 statements to see if your company stands up:

• Quality products that meet a need. 
• A well-established, reputable company backing its products AND distributors.
• Excellent support without all the hype.
• Multiple avenues for business growth, which allow YOU to decide how to build YOUR business. 
• Potential for financial independence within 5 years or less with limitless potential for financial growth.

The perfect home business SHOULD NOT require or entail any of the following:

• Large initial investment to become involved. 
• Keeping an inventory of products.
• Minimum quotas for purchasing or selling products.
• Lots of paperwork and record keeping. 
• Large commissions for simply signing up new distributors.  

Prospecting, then sponsoring is what you need to do in order to build a large business. How to you spot a good prospect? These are some characteristics that will provide a good indication of future performance. 

• People who value your products
• People who desire to start their own business
• Hard-working, self-starting, stable people
• People with good experience
• People looking for retirement income
• People who are driven
• Successful people
• Busy people
• Personable people
• Husband & wife teams

These types of people are all around us, you run into potential distributors every single day. The key is to be ready. Have the tools necessary to prospect any where you go. 

• Have all necessary materials on hand
• Wear proper attire, if you company has logos or clothing wear it
• Have a positive mental attitude-smile
• Know your prospect
• Believe in your products, Live your products
• Do the paperwork
• Follow up

Get your business off to a great start! Sell for Today, Sponsor for Tomorrow. 

Michael Sparks-- Entrepreneur

 

Flying to build your business

I just love to fly. The question is why? Here are some ideas that will allow you to expand your mind and think about "the bigger picture"

For me flying isn't something I necessarily enjoy because of the security, the hassle, and the all the germs being spread around. So you must realize my love of flying has more to do with a business aspect that I will now explain. Flying allows me to realize, visually how big our state, our country and the world is. As we leave the ground I can see cars whizzing down the road, rows and rows of houses, large office buildings, malls, and businesses as well as hundreds of thousands of acres of farm land. I realize the untapped business potential is essentially endless (in personal terms) meaning I know that I will never be able to work with every single person out there, though I do have the potential to work with many more customers than I currently do.

My other love as I look down is the fact that we are traveling at 300 or more miles per hour. The efficiency of doing business in distant places allows anyone to jump on a plane and in a short time be in another state, or country. Matter of fact as I write this I'm sitting on a plane headed to Florida for a business meeting. It wasn't that long ago really when flying was prohibitively expensive. Today my ticket will cost less than it would cost me to drive from Tennessee to Orlando and back, let alone the extra time it would take to drive.

In my businesses, where just about everyone is a potential customer, it makes sense to have connections, customers, and business partners anywhere I go. Flying to Florida we are turning a business event into an opportunity to connect with friends, as well as meet new folks.

I guess its not so much the act of going through the hassles of getting on the plane, but more the perspective it gives me that there is a whole world full of people out there that I haven't met yet.

Happy Networking,

Michael Sparks - Entrepreneur

Answer to the Secret

Maybe you know maybe you don't know, but The Secret is a book that was written around the premise of the power of your own mind to attract the things in life that you want. This "Law of Attraction" is what has made many in history successful or smart, or famous. After all you are what you think about.

To Create that life of abundance or that life of happiness you must first have the thought in your mind, then act upon those thoughts. We call these I am statement. After all when the mind can conceive the body can achieve. Likewise, you can not conceive of it, then there is no way to act upon nothing, therefore you will achieve nothing.

We recently took a trip to UTAH to attend a conference for a company that specializes in helping others act on their promptings. You see a prompting is little more than a thought to do something. It's a feeling that you have that makes you want to do kind things for or to others. A prompting could be the thought that you express your appreciation to someone by saying thank you, or maybe call up someone on the phone that just popped into you head. The company we visited uses real greeting cards to allow someone to go on the internet, and in a few seconds create a card, click send and the card will be mailed out to that person.

Creating a life of abundance must first begin with giving unto others, then allowing that giving to be received back. You see it's difficult to say thank you without the other person saying "you're welcome" This prompting is noted in the other mind, with the acceptance of the "thank you" which then in turn that person wants to return this thank you by acknowledgment of the "you're welcome". If you keep giving out, eventually you will begin to receive. This subconscious process works in ways like the advertising market works. Plant that seed in your mind over and over--this is why we are bombarded with ads over and over. You plant seeds in others mind and you will then be at the forefront of what they think about. You send someone a card, the act of opening it, reading it, feeling it and touching the card will put that thought directly in the front of their mind. You will be what they think about at that very second.

What I want to talk about is using subconscious processes to allow you to attract abundance in your life by getting on the forefront of thousands of persons minds. This can be possible by using tools and techniques. Staying in contact is a great way, using Social Networking, sending cards, calling and meeting in person are some ways to get started. Also note that if you are trying to sell someone, or trying to influence them, this will not work. You must sincerely want to connect with others on a personal level. This is easier said than done, but when you are able to connect personally the connection between you and that other person will be long lasting and hard to break.

From the Secret, we got the Answer. The Answer is a book written by John Assaraf and Murray Smith that delves deeper into how the subconscious mind works. I've read the book several years ago, but have recently picked it up again after listing to some of the speakers at the Convention.

The Answer Offers a step by step process for anyone who desires more success and abundance in their life. Using cutting-edge research into brain science and quantum physics, they show how readers can actually rewire their brains for success and create the kind of extraordinary lives they want. By teaching readers how to attract and use newly discovered "uncommon" senses to achieve business success, the authors demonstrate the beliefs, habits, thoughts, and actions that they have used to build eighteen multimillion-dollar companies.

The Power locked inside our own minds can be used to create any life you desire, use the techniques like the law of attraction, the law of gestation and the law of action. After a renewed sense of wanting to take my business to the next level. A reread of The Answer just might be "My Answer".


Michael Sparks--Entrepreneur