Why
Do You Recommend Network Marketing?
Robert
Kiyosaki's Answer:
When
I first heard about network marketing, I was against it. But after opening
my mind, I began to see advantages that few other business opportunities offer.
Long-term success in life is a reflection of your education, life
experience and personal character. Many network-marketing companies provide
personal development training in those key areas.
Most schools train
people for the E or S quadrants, and that is great if those are the quadrants
in which you want to spend your life. Most MBA programs are training students
for high-paying jobs in the corporate world as an E, not a B.
What
if you're in the E or S quadrant and you want to change? What if you want
to be in the B quadrant? Where do you find the education that trains you
for that quadrant? I recommend a network-marketing business. I recommend
the industry for people who want to change and get the necessary skills and attitude
training to be successful in the B quadrant.
Being an entrepreneur
and building a B quadrant business is one of the toughest challenges a person
can take on. The reason there are more people in the E and S quadrants is
simply because those quadrants are less demanding than the B quadrant. As
they say, "If it was easy, everyone would do it."
Personally,
I had to learn how to overcome my self-doubt, shyness and fear of rejection.
And I had to learn how to pick myself up and keep going after I failed.
These are some of the personal traits a person must develop if they are to be
successful in a B quadrant business, regardless of whether it is a network-marketing
business, a franchise or an entrepreneurial startup.
An
important personal skill required for any B quadrant business is leadership.
Are you able to overcome your own fears and have others overcome their fears in
order to get the job done? This is a skill the Marine Corps taught me.
As Marine Corps officers, it was imperative that we be able to lead others into
battle, even though we were all terrified of dying.
I meet many
people in the S quadrant, the specialist or small business owners, who would like
to expand, but they simply lack leadership skills. No one wants to follow
them. The employees do not trust their leader or the leader does not inspire
the employees to better themselves.
As mentioned earlier,
Forbes defined a big-business owner, a B quadrant business owner, as a person
who controls a business with more than 500 employees. This definition is
why leadership skills are vial for the B quadrant.
Where could
you find a business that will invest the time in your education, your personal
development and building your own business? The answer is: most network-marketing
business.
Building a B quadrant business is not an easy task.
So you need to ask yourself, "Do I have what it takes? Am I willing
to go beyond my comfort zones? Am I willing to be led and willing to learn
to lead? Is there a very rich person inside of me, ready to come out?"
If the answer is "Yes," start looking for a network-marketing business
that has a great training program. I would focus less on the products or
the compensation plans and more on the education and personal development program
the company offers.
A
network-marketing business is a B quadrant business because it meets several criteria
I look for in a business or investment. Those criteria are:
- Leverage:
Can I train other people to work for me?
- Control:
Do I have a protected system that belongs to me?
- Creativity:
Will the business allow me to be creative and develop my own personal style and
talents?
- Expandability: Can my
business grow indefinitely?
- Predictability:
Is my income predictable if I do what is expected of me? If I am successful,
and keep expanding my business, will my income increase with my success and hard
work?
Isn't
Network Marketing A Pyramid Scheme?
I am often asked if network
marketing is a pyramid scheme. My reply is that corporations are really
pyramid schemes. A corporation has only one person at the top, generally
the CEO, and everyone else below. The following is an example of a typical
corporate pyramid:
Compare that
to a network-marketing business system:
A true network-marketing
business is the exact opposite of a traditional business model. A network-marketing
business is designed to bring you up to the top, not keep you down at the bottom.
A true network-marketing business does not succeed unless it brings people up
to the top.
Additional Points Worth Mentioning
The
following are some other points worth mentioning:
- Tax breaks increase. By
starting a network-marketing business in your spare time and keeping your regular
job, you begin to gain the tax advantages of the rich. A person with a part-time
business can take more tax deductions than employees can. For example, you
may be able to deduct car expenses, gasoline, some meals and entertainment.
Obviously, you need to check with a CPA for exact rulings on your situation.
And the cost of your CPA is tax-deductible. In most cases, an employee cannot
deduct CPA expenses. In other words, the government will give you a tax
break for advise on how to pay less in taxes.
- Meet
like-minded people. One of the advantages I had is that my friends
also wanted to be in the B quadrant. When I first started out, most of my
E quadrant friends thought I was nuts. They could not understand shy I did
not want a steady job or a steady paycheck. So an important part of becoming
a B is to surround yourself with other people who are Bs and want you to become
a B.
- Give yourself time.
It takes time to be successful in any of the quadrants. Just as it takes
time to climb to the top of the corporate ladder as an E, or become a successful
doctor or lawyer In the S quadrant, it takes time and dedication to become successful
in the B quadrant. It took me years before I built a successful B quadrant
business.
- Network-marketing companies
are patient. One of the beauties of a network-marketing business
is that it will invest in you, even if you are not successful.
In
the corporate world, if you are not successful in six months to a year, you are
often fired. In the network-marketing world, as long as you are willing
to put in the time, most companies will work with you in your development.
After all, they want you to get to the top.
- Leverage the systems that are already in place.
These systems are already tried and proven, which allows you to hit the
ground running instead of trying to build the internal system of a new company.
In
conclusion
After opening my closed mind, I could finally see some
of the unique benefits the network-marketing industry offers people who want more
out of their lives.
Generally, it costs much less to get started in a network-marketing
company than to build a business on your own.
-Robert
Kiyosaki
Donald Trump's Response
Marketing
is a powerful tool, and network marketing can increase that power, provided you
are self-motivated. In a simple visual, see a product and then remove the
advertising agency from it. It is up to you to do the marketing and advertising.
That's a big job, but it can be done if you are passionate enough
to get it going on your own and to jeep the momentum and motivation going at a
high level. It requires an entrepreneurial spirit, and that means focus
and perseverance. I do not recommend network marketing to people who are
not highly self-motivated.
Another important aspect of network
marketing is that it is inherently social, so if you are not a social or outgoing
person, I'd think twice about going into it. Sociability is a requirement.
Just like in advertising, there's no point in having a fantastic
advertising campaign if the product isn't equally fantastic. Also keep in
mind that if you decide to become a distributor, you will be legally responsible
for the claims you make about the product, the company and the available opportunities.
But above all, make sure the product is worth your energy and total devotion.
Otherwise, you could be energetically spinning your wheels.
Robert mentions the importance of going beyond your comfort zone when it comes
to network marketing. He also mentions giving yourself enough time.
These are good points to consider. I would also agree that having leadership
qualities is critical for success. You definitely have to have a take-charge,
can-do attitude.
As with any other undertaking, know everything
you can about what you're doing before you begin. Network marketing has
proven itself to be a viable and rewarding source of income, and the challenges
could be just right for you. There have been some remarkable examples of
success, and those successes have been earned through diligence, enthusiasm and
the right product combined with timing. As with so many issues we have discussed
before, there are tangibles and intangibles involved, but success is not a total
mystery, and that applies to network marketing as well.
Most
people have heard of focus groups, a research tool that advertising agencies
use when they are testing a new product. They will go out to different locations
and simply ask everyday people what they like and don't like about a new product.
Its best if you can keep the focus group idea close at hand when you are deciding
about a product. Just because you like it doesn't mean everyone else will.
Finding a common denominator in product appeal will matter.
My nutshell
advice about network marketing is to do your research and then put everything
you've got into your product. Genuine enthusiasm is hard to beat, and the
odds will be with you.
-Donald Trump
