The home business industry is one of the fastest growing on the planet right now. It’s really not surprising either, given the state of most peoples’ finances. Home businesses are typically a great opportunity to help with cashflow by providing a secondary income stream, or even replacing a working income. There are also tremendous tax advantages associated with a home based business MLM. However, the burning question for most people is can you REALLY make money? And it’s a reasonable question. After all, you have to wonder why over 90 % of people who get involved in the industry don’t make it. The answer, in fact, is an emphatic “yes you can!”, but only under certain circumstances. This article explains.Home Based Business MLM – How To Actually WinIf this is the first time you’ve heard the statistic that the industry has a 90% failure rate, you may be surprised. What you may not realize is that those documented “failures” are really just people giving up. Now to be fair, they’re giving up with relatively good reasons – they haven’t been able to make it work. They haven’t been successful at really generating significant income using their home based business MLM vehicle. But often it’s not their fault.It takes a few simple, critical things in order to be successful with home based business MLM. While these things are SIMPLE, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are easy to create or to find. But if you can find them, and you commit yourself to being coachable and doing what it takes to succeed, financial freedom is virtually guaranteed. It’s just a matter of time.These are the critical Elements for A Successful (Profitable) Home Based Business MLM:Home Based Business MLM – Partnering with the right companyIf you’re going to stand behind something, you’d better be 100% certain that they can stand behind their product, their resources, their infrastructure, their leadership, and their long term sustainability. You’d also better be sure you’ve partnered with a company that shares your values and beliefs about what’s most important. Personally, if a company is ONLY about making money (you can tell if that’s all they talk about) then you’re in the wrong place. If, however, they have a bigger mission and vision that is parallel to your own, you have an opportunity for some great synergy. Partner with only the best home based business MLM company, partner for the right reasons, and partner for life.Home Based Business MLM – Having A Great Team Who Understands What Leadership Really Is So many people think leadership is about telling people where to go. This is especially true when you see someone who has been able to create results for themselves. These people tend to say “do this, then do that…” and then leave a person to figure it out for themselves. The home based business MLM industry is FULL of companies and people who use this model for “Leadership”. But leadership truly is showing someone how they can get from where they are to where they want to be…and then TAKING THEM THERE. I remember when I finally partnered with the right team and what a difference that made for me. We operate from a “learn, do, teach” model with more support than I’ve ever personally seen in the industry. That’s how it should be done.Home Based Business MLM – Understanding What Kills Most Businesses Often the home based business MLM model relies on having a decent number of connections or contacts that you are able to share your product, service, or business opportunity (or all of the above) with. What kills a good percentage of our 90% failure crowd is simply running out of people to talk to. They don’t understand how to market themselves and their business. They don’t understand how to put what they have to offer directly in front of the people who want it. This was another critical element for me personally. When I learned how to have an endless stream of people coming to ME, asking me about what I had to offer, the whole game changed. And nothing is more fun than helping people in my organization experience that same shift.The home based business MLM vehicle is by far the most fair, most accessible, and most powerful tool for financial freedom and wealth building available today. And provided you adhere to and conquer the simple elements above, you will win.
Home-Based Business Vs Work From Home Job – Which Is the Best One for You?
A home-based business is just what it sounds like – your own business. That means that there are going to be some costs involved with getting started and maintaining it. These costs vary from home-business to home-business, but are normally quite low cost and easy to recuperate. Traditional businesses cost thousands of dollars to start and maintain, and include such expenses as: start-up fees, legal fees, overhead, employee salaries and benefits, legal fees, advertising, and much more. Most home-based businesses are extremely cheap to start and run. If it is a Network Marketing business, the costs are even lower. In these types of opportunities you become an independent marketing associate of the company, and simply plug into the system that’s already in place. Your website, marketing tools, the product or service, legal stuff, etc., has all been put in place for you and your job is simply to market the system/product. The network marketing model has been gaining in credibility more in recent years as more and more people earn significant part time incomes from the comfort of their home. The most powerful element of the network marketing business opportunity as a home-based business it the potential for the associate to earn tens of thousands of dollars per month over time, by building a team of associates whom they train and earn leveraging dollars from. Affiliate marketing does not entail building a team, but involves the affiliate learning marketing methods to drive a steady stream of qualified traffic to their website in hopes that visitors will make a purchase, of which the affiliate then makes a commission.A work from home JOB, on the other hand, is simply an extension of the employee/employer relationship, conducted from the comfort of the employee’s home. Examples of a work at home job could include: telemarketing, customer services, technical support workers, writers and editors who work on salary instead of contract, etc. The benefits of having a work at home job as a opposed to a home-based BUSINESS is that as long as you do the work you are hired to do, there will be a paycheque. In a business there is a paycheque only if you’ve acquired business (sales, recruits, etc). In a home-based JOB, there are usually no costs associated, and there is less work and/or responsibility. However, a job pays the employee for their time only, and there is no way to build a residual long-term, growing income. The income potential is limited and the person is virtually renting their time for money. They are not building equity as in a business.It takes a certain mindset to operate a home-based business and it is not for everyone. This is for the: risk-taker, dreamer, visionary, ambitious, wealth-seeking type of personality. If that fits you, take some time to find a home-based business opportunity that you are happy with, learn how to be an effective Internet marketer, and then take massive action.
Auction Listings Are Vital to the Success of Fundraising Auctions
Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:
An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.
If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.
Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.
After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:
Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.
A Case Study
Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.
Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.
Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.
I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.
There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.
According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?
As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.
When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.
While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.
So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:
The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.
Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.
If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.
When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.
And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.