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Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker?
As the 21st century job market
continues to constrict, working people are retooling their vision of how they will make a living in the years to come. This
is driving young people and mid-career types alike to pursue small business ownership as the career of choice. Creating your
own job is the new path job security.
As people seek business opportunities, it is important that they pursue options based on the right criteria. Too often,
people that are new to business ownership may think they know what they want before they are aware of what is available. As
children, we may have wanted to pursue a career as a cowboy or an astronaut. Both of these jobs sound pretty cool, but the
interest is based on both a limited knowledge of career options and little or no consideration of other life goals such as
where you will live, if you will have a family of your own and what type of skills or training will be required. When searching
for a business we need to carefully define the things that are important to us such as lifestyle and financial goals while
being realistic about our unique competencies.
Another big driver that defines our options is our investment capability. This is typically defined
through consideration of our net worth and our liquidity. A good rule of thumb is that you need about 30% of the total that
you will invest in liquid funds and then you can finance the other 70%, provided you have remaining assets to collateralize
the loan. I generally recommend that people not put more than half of their net worth at risk. This is a prudent guideline
and while sometimes it leaves people with options that don't fit their original vision, it is better to start small than to
be over extended when starting a business. Your first business doesn't have to be forever and you can graduate into a business
that requires more capital later, when you have the resources and experience to do it properly.
Finding the right entry point can launch you on a very rewarding career
as a business owner and allow you to perform at your best level. The good news is that today there are more business models
available to choose from than ever before, so choose wisely and don't be afraid to ask for help from a qualified advisor.
1:30 pm edt
Friday, January 21, 2011
Are MLM Businesses Legit?
As a recruiter
for the franchise industry, I am constantly reviewing business models and I have become very good
at separating the wheat from the chaff. All business models are created through a process of trial and error initially, this
is what drives most companies under in the first year. That is why a readymade business model is so valuable. They
come in many forms; franchises, licenses, distributorships and now even direct marketing has become mainstream. If you find
the right company, direct marketing (a.k.a. network marketing or MLM) can be an excellent business to pursue full
or part time. In fact, I recently bought into one myself.
Distribution is the backbone of business and the direct
marketing model has proven to be a very effective strategy. It is now even being taught in the best business schools in the
world. While there are many good MLM opportunities, there are at least twice as many bad ones. I have been learning
a great deal about the direct marketing business over the last few years and I have some friends in Denver that are among
the top people in the U.S. in this space. He was a very successful lawyer and she is a Harvard MBA and former investment banking
executive. They left their lucrative careers about 18 years ago to pursue the NuSkin opportunity. They have made over $12M
in network marketing so far and even wrote a book titled Network Marketing that is now published in 9 languages.
They are the real deal and these are the folks that I have been learning from.
The keys to network marketing
success are product and timing. You have to have a product that people will buy and it should be:
·
Mainstream
· Consumable
·
Emotional
· Affordable
Also, you should not have too many products
to manage and there is an advantage to having a low monthly cost. The other key to network marketing success is getting
in at what they call the pre-momentum phase. This simply means getting into an organization before everyone and their brother
is doing it - otherwise you will never make any money. Another important element is your upline group - these are the
people that will teach you and help you build your business - it really matters who they are.
My friends in
Denver recently turned me on to what they consider to be the best thing going. They think this will easily eclipse the success
that they had with NuSkin (which earned them over $9 million). I bought my distributorship a few months ago and I am delighted
with the results so far. If you really want to find a simple opportunity with little capital risk and a real upside,
check this out and let me know if you want to learn more: www.mylifevantage.com/danielbrunell
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