Online Business Myth 7 "You can make money in this business with next to no money down…"

Ever heard the saying “You get what you pay for?”

Online Business Myth 7

Never a truer word was spoken. It applies in this context as well.

Now, certainly, if you are planning to build a business working from home, you have far fewer capital outlays than someone in a brick and mortar business or even a franchise. In either of those business environments, you will typically have expenses like a lease on a building and equipment, stock and wages. If you are a franchisee, in addition to all of those costs, you will also have paid for the ‘privilege’ of doing business under someone else’s name. Forking out money for any of these running costs is by no means a guarantee that you will make any money. There are many brick and mortar business people and franchisees who go out of business every day, despite having great products and services on offer. Read more

Now it is true that you can opt-in to an MLM or Network Marketing business opportunity and expect your capital outlay to be less than in another business model, but you still must understand that there are ongoing running costs associated with owning a business.

The fact is that you cannot run a legitimate business on fresh air.

For starters, there will be a cost to opt-in.

This is where the type of business model you choose will be incredibly important. While it may be tempting to join a company with a low-cost product range, you must realize that this means the commissions on any sales you make will also be very low. It makes sense that you are not going to be paid a commission that is more than the product is worth.

If you opt-in to a company with a range of low-cost products, you are going to have to sell a very high volume of products before you will see a return on your investment.
Higher value products will yield you a higher commission on your sales, as long as you are positioned in such a way in the compensation plan to collect that commission.

If you are currently doing due diligence on business opportunities right now, we suggest that you have these criteria in mind when you go looking:

1. Opt for Top Tier direct sales or hybrid opportunities over “old school” MLM or Network Marketing.

Top Tier simply means that the buy-in level is much higher, so while you will invest at a higher rate to get started, your commissions will also be higher and you will be targeting a niche in the market which has the money to invest. It is not an effective business strategy to promote your products or business to people who have no money to spend. Be that as it may, my company offers you the opportunity to start at a lower rate as well.

2. Look for a company with a G.P.T. payment plan.

G.P.T. stands for ‘Get Paid Today’. This means that you get paid on your direct sales, rather than having to wait months or even years to build up a residual income.
Negative cash flow is particularly deadly for new business owners, and this type of payment structure means that you will have cash flow as soon as you make a sale.

3. Look for companies that have a ‘dual income’ structure.

A dual-income structure is one where you are paid for the sales you make at the front end, but also make a residual income on the sales of the consultants you personally sponsor.

Beyond the investment to opt-in there are running costs, from membership fees, travel (if it is an International business), to communication costs, just to name a couple.

There is another saying that goes like this “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”, and that is highly pertinent to this situation. From a psychological point of view, if you have no “skin in the game” if you have nothing to lose, you are going to be far less motivated to lift yourself and do what it takes to get your business going.

I see many people opt-in at the lowest level financially with an “I’ll give it a go and see what happens” attitude. They never last long. Frankly, it is not possible to make money with this attitude. You do need to invest money to make money. If an opportunity presents itself as one where you can make money with no money, it sounds too good to be true…and it is.