Direct Sales is a potent and lucrative business model. With no inventory cost, no shipping cost, no rent or lease, it has the lowest start up and overhead of any other business out there. This equals huge profit margins and income potential.

So why, when the business model is so efficient, is there still such a low success rate? Is it the products or the compensation plans? No, Absolutely not.

It’s not lack of information or training either. There are programs out there that will show you exactly, step by step, how to set up a marketing program that has been proven to work. So, even armed with this kind of knowledge how is it that people still fail?

The answer is quite simple — because we are people, and people fail.

The number one reason why people fail, in my book, is because when the going gets tough they second-guess themselves and quit. Which sets up most important point number one.

1. Realize that failure is an opportunity for growth and be grateful.
Develop a habit of analyzing your failures and implementing a change to compensate. Always pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going.

Marketing is difficult and failure is painful. That’s why not everyone does it. It’s also extremely lucrative, and is worth all the effort it takes to learn it.

Leading up to number two, the people we surround ourselves with have a huge impact on our own mindset. Are you surrounded by people who don’t believe in what you are doing? Do people expect you to fail and quit? That kind of environment ways heavy on the mind, and makes success even more difficult.

2. Get a mentor who knows what it takes to succeed.
They will understand about the pain of failure. They will be able to encourage you when you need it, and give you a kick in the aspiration when you need that too.

The second part of this is to build a network of successful people. Surround yourself with them. Their support will be mentally and emotionally uplifting. The more successful people you have in your life the greater your chances of success.

And perhaps the most important of the points is, why? Why are you starting a business?
The answer needs to be deeper than money.

Money is great and we all need and want it, but it will not guide you in the direction you need to go. Money comes and goes. How will you keep going when you fail and lose money?

3. Have a personal mission.
Every person has something inside them that they dream of doing. It starts out in early childhood. The problem is that life tends to cover it over with fear, pain, and doubt. Make it a priority to uncover your personal mission, your reason why.

When you become attached to that mentally and emotionally it will keep you going through the worst of storms.

Some reasons for failure that are important to address are as follows. Failure to plan; without a plan of action you have no reason to expect to succeed.

This includes budgeting. How much money do you have to spend on your endeavor, and what is the best way to spend it? The first thing you are going to want to budget is education.

If you are not already a master marketer you need to invest time and money in your education. That is more important than an advertising budget. Having a good education will teach you how to best spend your ad dollars.

If you run out of money before you start making sales the game will get a lot harder. And with all of this information coming in focus becomes extremely important. Follow your plan and focus on one thing at a time. Failure to focus leads to a state of overwhelm and that can lead to giving up. Stay focused.

A good mentor is going to be aware of the pitfalls that can ensnare you and will be able to guide you around them. It’s like having an advance scout telling you what is up ahead. Forewarned is forearmed. Their insight will be invaluable. They will be able to help you figure out what your focus should be on.

Set goals for yourself that lead toward the accomplishment of your mission. Setting and accomplishing short-term goals is a great morale booster. Celebrate every time one of your goals is accomplished. This will build your enthusiasm and drive to accomplish bigger goals.

Commit to yourself right now that you will never quit. Chose your course, find a guide, pace yourself and keep going. Every time you fall down get up and move on toward your goals.

Every time you are faced with a decision make sure it will lead you to the accomplishment of your mission. When you make a mistake learn from it and keep going. You are not perfect. You will make mistakes. Forgive yourself, get over the pain, and keep going.

JMHorton A.K.A Joshua Horton is an entrepreneur dedicated to a path of self development and service. The mission of his corporation, Horton’s Endeavoring, L.L.C. is to promote personal and financial freedom through education and opportunity. His endeavors include a therapeutic bodywork and personal coaching practice, a self development speaking practice, and an online direct sales business. His blog has great information on mindset, marketing, self development, networking, and more. Go check it out!

Are you sick and tired of catering to kids in your marketing, of trying to understand what makes Gen X and Gen Y tick?

You might have an easier and more profitable time tailoring your marketing programs to “the grumpy old men (GOM)” market.

The GOM market consists of men age 50 and older. GOM represent more than 10% of the U.S. population, as noted in a new Special Report, Marketing to GOM: 10 Tips for Selling to the Age 50+ Male Market.

According to the report, there are 35 million male consumers in the United States over the age of 50. The median family income for a household in which one of the wage earners is a GOM between 50 and 64 years old is $50,252. Among the strategies for creating marketing campaigns that successfully target the GOM market outlined in this free report:

Point out in your advertising how your product or service helps the GOM to live independently without help from family, friends, or the federal government. As the end of their working days appears on the horizon, GOM increasingly long for the freedom to call their own shots – and tire of taking orders from others.
When writing to GOM, the “voice” of the marketer should be one GOM writing to another. If your promotion is a sales letter or e-mail, the person who signs it should indicate he is a fellow GOM. Reason: GOM are more comfortable dealing with others of the same generation. GOM are wary of — and easily annoyed by – youngsters.
Don’t hesitate to use more traditional marketing media – Yellow Pages, billboards, TV and radio commercials, newspaper and magazine ads, direct mail – when targeting GOM. The GOM have developed a lifetime habit of reading, listening, and responding to advertising, and are therefore more responsive than younger consumers to traditional marketing programs.

Photos are personal. Why not make your marketing just as personal?

I recently worked with a professional photographer who was looking to promote his studio and impact his senior-portrait sales for the upcoming spring and summer seasons. In today’s business world, a gamut of marketing services and resources are available, so choosing can be difficult. This particular photographer was intrigued by variable-data printing and marketing and embarked upon such a campaign.

Not only was he amazed by the ease of use and customization of variable-data marketing, but his marketing efforts reaped added interest on behalf of high-school seniors and, ultimately, a greater return on investment (ROI). And we’re only into the month of May! Professional photo labs with press-print capabilities are unique because they provide standard photo services, but they also possess capabilities to produce press-printed products.

What does this mean? Direct-marketing materials such as mailers can be printed with ease, meaning photo labs with print presses serve as one-stop sources for photo and marketing needs. In terms of variable-data marketing, it’s an easy-to-use program that adds a little personalization and interactivity to each outgoing e-mail or print piece. In a nutshell, this is how it works:

Develop an e-mail and/or mailing list based on previous customers, or purchase one from a list vendor. If you purchase a list, be sure to ask about single-use versus multiple-use fees. Purchasing lists can segment your target audience even more because you can specify the demographic information of your recipients. Oh, and be sure to ask for e-mail address so you can create a cross-channel marketing campaign that hits your readers from multiple angles.
Once a list has been secured, write a short e-mail about your photo products or services (remember, content is king, and less is more). Address each e-mail at the top with something like, “Dear [John Doe].” That’s the beauty of variable data! You can swap in and out all the names in your list, so each recipient gets a truly unique piece. Then, include a personalized URL address: __________/JohnDoe. With an e-mail, recipients can simply click on the link that drives them to a web page tailored to their interests.
Couple the personalized e-mail with a direct-mail postcard summarizing the same content. In your call-to-action line, include the personalized URL address and write “Visit _______/JohnDoe for exclusive savings…” (or whatever your marketing objective might be). Both the e-mail and direct mail will drive your target audience to customized landing pages. What’s more is you can get really creative and segment your mailing list by high school, zip code, etc. and include high-school logos or special offers for different zip codes. Or attach to each piece specific images from your database.
With landing pages, the sky is the limit. Be creative. But follow the basic structure of 1.)welcome page with a click-through to a web form, 2.) web form to collect data or update profiles, and 3.) a thank-you page with an optional coupon or special offer for registering. (You can use the collected data for future mailings.)
By driving customers to online pages, companies can track and monitor the progress of variable-data marketing campaigns. Be informed of who visited and how far they clicked through, who signed up or updated their profiles, and more.
With this type of marketing, imagine how much more effective you could be at reaching out to seniors or other customers in your area. You grab their attention via mail, e-mail and the Internet. Plus, you can follow up with a phone call or subsequent mailings.

Excited, Scared, Confused (big time), Depressed, Ready to Quit, Overjoyed (I actually made some Money!!!), and Hopeful

I experienced all these feelings and more during my first year as a network marketer. I think there were times when I had all these feelings in a single day. Like most new businesses there are days you love and days you wish you were back in kindergarten where the biggest decision you had was playing trucks or kickball.

Now that I can look back at that first year I can smile about the struggles and tough days and chalk them up to experience. Without the hard days I wouldn’t have ever learned what I know now.

If you are just starting out, realize there will be good days and bad. Don’t take it personal. It’s business.

Head the words of the great Commander Peter Quincy Taggert (Galaxy Quest), “Never give up, Never Surrender!”

Maybe reading about some of my experiences will help you to see that you are not alone

“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.”

Its fun

For me, Network Marketing and working from home is a great job. Everyday is different. I might be writing an article, setting up a squidoo page, working with my team members or meeting someone new. If I need to take off and go to my children’s school I can do it. I get to surprise them and meet them for lunch. Part of my job is being social and networking with people. Making new friends, people that have interests like mine. THAT’S MY JOB. How can that not be fun?!? In one day I might have interactions with people from all over the United States. I even have been contacted by people from around the world – from Canada, Australia, Brazil and Malaysia to name a few.

When I am not working directly with customers or team members, I might be creating new training and informational products to help them out. I have taken my Network Marketing Online and for me that is the best way to go. I love it. I love everything about the internet and using technology to create and to help.

I was a High School teacher before doing this so learning, teaching and helping others to achieve their true potential have always been things I enjoy. Throw in a little technology and I am in Heaven.

So is Network Marketing Fun? Yeah it really is.

I think SpongeBob put it best -
F – is for Fun when we do things together
U – is for you and me
N – is for N E (any) time and N E where here in the deep blue sea.

Challenging

When I was a Network Marketing wannabe I remember reading several articles about how this was a great business. Everyone can do it. You will have people lining up at your door to be on your team and use your products. With such an unbelievable opportunity how could any sane person pass it up?

Well I soon found out that it’s a little harder than that. It was a challenge to follow the ‘old school’ plans and make the business work. It has worked for some and it might work for you, but my challenge was to find a new way.

Learning something new and creating change are always challenges. But when you have some success it seems just that much sweeter to have earned it. It feels great to rise up to a challenge and overcome it.

Never be afraid to try and then fail. Don’t waste your energy trying to avoid or cover up failure. Instead, learn from your failures and go on the next challenge. Its OK to fail, Your growth can be measured by the failures you have overcome.

Challenges give us the opportunity to learn and achieve more. I know when I see somebody do something that I want to do I enjoy the challenge of learning how to do it and then finally succeeding. It is a great feeling to step back and look at something you have done and know that you did it. You overcame the fear and the hard work and you DID IT!

General George Patton had it right when he said “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”

More difficult than it is made to sound

Listen to the hype about Network Marketing and, like me, you will get the impression that by the end of the week you will be financially secure and working on the beach. Well let me tell you I am not yet working on the beach and honestly if I could make it to the beach I wouldn’t want to be WORKING!

However, once the initial exhilaration of having started a business wears off and you realize that this is still a job and work is required and money doesn’t grow on trees then the true education takes place. There is a lot to learn about starting a business and it is no different for Network Marketing.

If you are like me and already had a full time job and this was your way out of that job then honestly you can expect it to take you a month or two before you are really feeling like you are achieving anything. Just getting set up and doing the little things like getting business cards and setting up a bank account can take up time. For a part time person that might be your weeks work right there.

All I am trying to say is that you have to be realistic. It is said that 95% of people who start a Network Marketing business fail. I don’t think that is entirely true. A majority of these people just QUIT! After a month or two they decide that since they aren’t making a few thousand dollars by now then it just isn’t worth it. But honestly if they look at what they have done – maybe talked with a few friends and bothered their Mom and brother and sister and an Aunt and then sat back discouraged because only 1 person even said maybe and the rest said NO – then they should realize they haven’t really done anything they should get paid for.

It takes time to build a business – Any Business. If you are starting a job that is brand new and the skills needed are foreign to you then expect it to take even more time because you will be spending a lot of your effort just training and learning.

But the best part about Network Marketing, the time and effort you put in now can and will still be making you money years from now. It’s all in the power of leveraging.

If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.”
Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open to you.”
Robert Kiyosaki

Easier than you think

Once you get over the fact that it is a job and, for me and most of you, a brand new way of doing things and a whole new skill set to learn, you will find that it really isn’t that tough. Like I said earlier it is really kind of fun.

If you can read, write about what you know and have learned and be willing to talk to people and help them then you are ready to go. With the help of a good upline and/or coach you can learn to put those skills to work attracting people to you and either your business opportunity or your product.

For me the internet has always been fascinating and I love the fact that I can use it to build my business. It is actually the greatest tool you can have as a Network Marketer. The entire Network Marketing structure is going through a huge growth phase because of the internet so I started my business at the perfect time and you have the opportunity to do the same.

With the right coaching, you can be up and running and attracting people to you in no time.

A couple of quick reminders about moving forward and making things work…
- Be realistic and honest with yourself. Look at your skills and your time commitment and understand that if you are lacking at either it won’t stop you from achieving success it will only slow it down. But a better job and future is worth the extra time and effort.
- Always remember it’s a business and don’t take things personally. Not everyone who talks to you will become part of your business. Everyone is different and the timing as well as the personality have to fit in order for this business model to seem like the way to go.

“So many of our DREAMS at first seem Impossible, then they seem Improbable, and then when we Summon the Will, they soon become Inevitable.”

A struggle until …

For me personally Network Marketing became a struggle after the first few months. I went into the business with the intent of just helping out my Mom but soon found that it was something I truly enjoyed. I liked the new learning and creating new content for the internet, but I really didn’t understand what I was working towards or how to get there.

Once I got over the initial excitement and newness, I noticed I really wasn’t getting any results. I was doing lots of things and keeping myself very busy but I really wasn’t generating any success. I went into the frustration mode that many network marketers go through.

However, the reading and learning I had done when I started out had made me into a true believer of the Network Marketing Model. I knew that if done right I could achieve the success I wanted.

So, Network Marketing was a struggle for me like it is for most people starting out. You must find what works for you and be committed to staying with your plan. It is what separates the people who quit (what most would call fail) and the people who succeed.

The other thing I have found that separates those that fail from those that succeed is a good mentor or coach. No matter when your frustration and struggling phase might hit it is almost guaranteed that it will raise its ugly head. A coach can get you to a point where you might skip this phase or at least minimize it and a coach can get you on the path to success much more quickly than you could probably do yourself.

Finding the right training definitely helped me get over the hump and on the downhill slide to success.

“If you always do what you’ve always done… you’ll always have what you’ve always had.”

The Internet makes it a whole new ballgame

The training I found was training on how to use the internet to attract people to you. Whether it is used to attract them to your business opportunity (your downline) or to your companies products, the internet has changed how Network Marketing is done.

The old method of MLM can pretty much be boiled down into one statement.

Chase down and talk to everyone you know and come within arms length of and try to sell them on either your business opportunity or your product or both.

This is a very hit and miss approach and it produces tons of FAILURE. Like selling sand to those living in the desert, it’s hard to find very many customers who are excited about your opportunity.

The new method of MLM and Network Marketing on the other hand can be boiled down to this.

By giving value through content that comes from our knowledge and expertise, we can attract those searching for solutions to their problems. The Internet allows you to make what you are offering available to huge numbers of people.

To revisit our example, now people who live where there is only dirt will find you and your knowledge of sand and want your opportunity.

This is just the tip of the iceberg that I found in my search. Now putting it all together and understanding how to use the tools of the Internet is what has helped me to go from a 1st year Network Marketing Newbie to a veteran Network Marketer ready to help others get over their hump and achieve their goals.

My first year: scary, frustrating, overwhelming and exciting and I believe a very necessary step towards truly learning the power of Network Marketing.

If you are ready to get started on your Network Marketing Journey or maybe you are perpetually stuck in this first year mode, I am here to help you. I have learned through practice and experience that this is a job that requires work. Anything worthwhile does.

However, anyone who really understands what Network Marketing is and has the commitment to pursue it can be successful. Let me know how I can help you.

“By working together, pooling our resources and building on our strengths, we can accomplish great things.”