One proviso; make sure there is a broad market for the product(s) you choose to promote. The bigger the market, the bigger the base of potential members. The first rule of any marketing business especially if you are starting with limited capital, is to give people what they want. People buy benefits, they buy solutions to their problems...and they want instant gratification. What can your business or products do for them? What problems do they solve? Keep this in mind and make sure that while picking a product line you love you also pick one most everyone else will love.

You also need to make sure that you are not placing obstacles in the way of your own success. For instance, have you been telling yourself that you will start a part-time business or work on making more $$$ when you have more time? more money? less distraction? If you take nothing else away from this book remember my words here...

THESE THINGS WILL NEVER CHANGE UNLESS YOU MAKE THEM CHANGE AND THERE WILL NEVER BE A PERFECT TIME TO START! Your life will change when YOU MAKE IT CHANGE... no sooner no later. So stop telling yourself excuses about why you can't and start thinking about how you can. When you do that...you will.

That out of the way, ask yourself the following questions: If money were no object, what would you be doing? If you had only one year to live (and would be healthy right up to the end) what would you be doing? Think about these questions as you read thru this book and as you go thru the day. Be honest, write down your thoughts if necessary. We will come back to why I want you to do this later in this book.

If you have had no experience whatsoever with Network Marketing, let me start by explaining as simply as I can, a few of the most common terms.

UX UP

AB CD EF ME

UU GH IJ KL MN OP QR ST

UV WX YZ AC BE DE YH RF IJ LA SL CM AA KL DL DE

i.e. the person who recruited you. Your sponsor would be UPLINE of you meaning he or she is between you and the company on the network matrix. A MATRIX is simply the way you are positioned within a program for purposes of who gets credit for which sales. And you are in his or her DOWNLINE. Now that I have thoroughly confused you let me try and clarify.

The figure above is a 2x4 Matrix. Each pair of letters represents a person, if you are "C" all of the other sets of letters represent individuals who are all in your downline. If you are "ME" then "UP" is upline from you and is most likely the person who sponsored you. If you are "C" you have 30 people in your downline. If you are "ME" you have 6 people in your downline.

Since this matrix represents where your overrides come from, I suggest you understand the one that pertains to your program. This is especially important if your program allows you to place people in specific slots as opposed to just filling in the next available one. How you place new members could greatly affect your income and different programs have different rules. I'll speak more about this when I review specific programs. It is however very important to understand the concept. So remember to ask how the particular program you wish to join works.

To get started, I suggest you do the following:

1 . Do some simple information gathering. Look thru the listing of companies and products listed in the back of this book. Call or send for additional information on any that interest you or seem to fit your needs. Go to your local bookstore's magazine rack and find magazines that discuss and include ads for network marketing programs. Determine what interests you and send for additional information.

If you know people in Network Marketing, talk to them about their experiences, but do not get talked into any particular program yet. You need to gather information, learn about Network Marketing in general, learn about specific programs and keep your options open.

2. As you start to receive the information, read thru it. Once you have an ongoing Network Marketing business, you can then establish another or go on to something else. This is especially true if you are on a limited time and/or monetary budget. If two people each have only have 5 hours a week and $100 per month to promote their businesses, which one do you believe is most likely to succeed? The one who is running 5 programs and has no money to do advertising or promotional work for any one of them because he or she is maintaining 5 programs? Or, the person who concentrates on one and spends 5 hours and $50 or more a month promoting that single program in one way or another?

4. Some of the programs in this book will allow you to start for free. Others can be started for as little as $15 to $30 dollars. Some others are a little more costly but never more than $100 or so. However, money is not the only criteria. I cannot stress enough the value of believing in and using the products your program is promoting.

Let me illustrate. About a year ago, I joined a program because I wanted a marketing manual that was being offered as a free bonus by a distributor looking to build his own downline. Although the company has a number of excellent products, I had no real interest in them. I did however purchase one bottle of their Pycnogenol which I promptly left on the shelf.

About 6 months later, my 80 year old mother called to tell me that her knee had been acting up again and had gotten so bad that the doctors were suggesting knee replacement surgery. After calming her down and thinking about all the claims I had read about the product I had sitting on the shelf, I decided we had nothing to lose by giving it a try. So I gave my mother this simple herbal type product to take with an attitude of "What have we got to lose". Within about a week to ten days her knee was so much better that she is back to walking 2 miles a day and she insists that she will continue taking those "pills" from now on.

The point of this digression is simple. I now find myself sincerely promoting a product which will make me money and I can feel comfortable doing so because I sincerely BELIEVE IN the product.

Your Network marketing business works the same way, and it will grow much more quickly and more likely become something you genuinely like to do if you love the products. How are you going to tell people "you really need to..." if you don't. What kind of enthusiasm will you generate every day if you don't use the products? You will also have greater desire to learn all you can about the products and the company if you are a customer. If you really believe in the products, its easier to "work" at succeeding because it isn't really "work" to do something you like. There are hundreds of Network Marketing companies to choose from. They offer opportunities to promote every type of goods and services imaginable. I'm sure you can find one you can really believe in.

It is true that I have listed a number of companies that will let you build a business without ever talking to anyone but it will always take longer this way. If you believe in the product you will automatically tell people about it. This will do more to jump start your business than you can ever imagine.

5. The true power of Network Marketing is that the little guy has the same chance to succeed as the big guy. This is because you do not have to go out and "recruit" hundreds of people. All you need to do it focus on duplication. Very simply, focus on getting two people who are willing to focus on getting two people who are willing to focus on getting two people and so forth. If you do this, regardless of what program you are in, by the end of one year you WILL HAVE a full time income.

Again, let me illustrate what I mean. Nationally, I am told, the average Network marketer "recruits" 2.7 persons into their business. Most do not make money and drop out. At a glance anyone can see why. Even with the most generous payout, no Network Marketing program is going to make money for you with 2 or 3 people. But if you work your business correctly, this is all you will ever need. The answer is duplication.

Going back to the movie theatre example, if I referred three people to the movie my income would be.75. Obviously nothing to get excited about. But remember, the trick for the little guy to succeed in Network Marketing is not to strike out trying to hit a home run when a series of singles will win the ball game. Suppose that movie theatre owner had said "not only will I pay you .25 for every person you refer but if as a result of that referral, those patrons in turn refer someone who also refers someone, I'll give you .25 for them also. This is exactly what is happening with Network Marketing programs.

So, you referred three people to the movie, they in turn also referred three who also in turn referred three...get the picture? Now you have earned $9.75 just for telling 3 people to go see a movie. If the movie is really good and I continue to recommend it, my efforts will be multiplied many times over. AND, more importantly, I will continue to earn $ every time any or all of them go back to the movies!

The point is, you are not doing all of the work by yourself. As each member works his or her business, they are contributing something not only to their own income but to yours as well. Thus, your income can increase dramatically over a period of time even though you continue to put in the same number of hours. Network Marketing is unlike putting in 40 hours at your job, where you earn the same pay for the same work. The beauty of Network Marketing is that if you continue to put in that same amount of effort week after week, your income will begin to increase, first slowly but more and more dramatically as your business progresses. Hopefully this will give you the incentive you need to stick with it.

6. Getting back to reality, you need to calculate your projected business expenses for the next 12 months. What will it cost to maintain your position and promote your new business. Some programs will require more start-up capital than others. Keep this in mind along with the fact that I am telling you to make up your mind now that you will need to invest 12 months into building your business. You may very well succeed in building your business more rapidly and be pleasantly surprised.