20 advantages to network marketing

Surveys tell us that most people would like to start a business. Those same surveys tell us why most people don't:

1. They don't have the money.
2. They don't have the time.
3. They don't want the risk.
4. They don't know how.

Network marketing avoids all four obstacles. In fact, here are 20 reasons why a network marketing business is better than a traditional business or franchise:

1. Low start up. A few hundred dollars and you're in business.
2. No risk. Most people who start traditional businesses go into debt to do so. When the business goes away, the debt remains. Not so in network marketing. If you haven't invested much, you can't lose much.
3. Low overhead. Most traditional businesses fail because they don't generate enough revenue to cover overhead. In a network marketing business, overhead is next to nothing; you can show a profit your first month. This gives you the time you need to build the business right, and you can go at your own pace.
4. Start part time. A few hours a week is enough to start. Keep your job until you're ready to go "full time," which for most people in the business is probably no more than twenty or twenty five hours a week.
5. Proven systems. You can leverage the name and good will of the company, their tools and training, their back office systems (accounting, inventory, shipping), and so on. It's like a franchise but without the big investment and restrictions (and flaky teenagers!)
6. Free training and support. Your upline will train you and help you start your business, and they will help you as it grows. They have experience and they have a financial incentive (overrides) to help you. They want to teach you what they know (unlike corporate life) and they want you to be as successful as possible (ditto).
7. Passive income. Your income doesn't depend solely on your efforts. You get paid a percentage of the sales done by the people in your organization. You have leverage. J. Paul Getty, the first billionaire in the United States, author of How to be Rich, famously said, "I'd rather have one percent of 100 men's efforts than 100% of my own."
8. Residual income. Residual income comes from (a) renewals/re-orders and (b) from the growth of your organization which continues to sell and recruit even if you retire. Build it right and in a few years you can have a significant residual income that pays you (and your heirs) in perpetuity.
9. Work from home. Something I always wanted to do and it's everything I knew it would be. No commuting means you save time, money, and wear and tear.
10. No red tape. No employees means no payroll taxes, no insurance, no liability. No inventory means no financing costs, no breakage. And your company takes care of processing orders, collecting bad debts, dealing with regulators, creating marketing documents, and so on. All you have to do is market product and recruit and train others to do the same.
11. Tax benefits. There are home office and other deductions available you wouldn't have with an outside business and certainly not as an employee. A doctor friend of mine got started in network marketing when his financial planner suggested it as a way to save on taxes. He saved $40,000 his first year and is working towards replacing his six-figure income. Plus, business owners have a better retirement plan. SEP IRAs, for example, let you deduct a higher percent of profit than your 401k.
12. Portability. Build your business from anywhere, even a very small town, and build it nationwide or worldwide. When I practiced law, I could only do so in one state. I've built my network marketing business in every state and in Canada. Building nationwide provides protection against natural disasters.
13. Personal development. The best network marketing businesses are built on a foundation of personal development. As you improve yourself, you attract a higher quality of business partners. Personal development increases your skills, your attitude, and your self-esteem. The result is not only more success but greater happiness.
14. Helping people. In network marketing, the ones who make the most income are the ones who help the most people. You get promoted by helping others get promoted, you earn more by helping others earn more. Zig Zigglar said, "You can have whatever you want as long as you help enough people to first get what they want."
15. Friends and fun. Network marketing is a people business. You meet a lot of new people and build relationships with your team. And there's a social element, too. Many companies award their top producers with trips to exotic places. If you like to travel, you can do a lot of that in network marketing (but you don't have to if you don't.)
16. Be your own boss. No time clocks, nobody criticizing your work, you can't be laid off and you never have to call in sick. You choose who to work with, make your own hours and any time you want to, you can give yourself a raise.
17. Level playing field. Your background doesn't matter, your education doesn't matter, if you have the desire and are willing to work, you can be successful in network marketing.
18. Collapsed time frames. Because of leverage and compounding, you can grow geometrically instead of arithmetically. That means you can get bigger, and do it faster, than you can in a traditional business. You can accomplish more in three or four years than you can accomplish in a job or traditional business in thirty or forty.
19. Unlimited potential. In a job, you can only earn what an employer is willing to pay you and they will not pay you what you are worth. (If they did, they would earn no profit on your services.) Many businesses have effective limits on how much you can earn. In most retail businesses, the only way to double your income is to open another store. In network marketing, if you want to increase your income, all you need to do is recruit more people.
20. Significance. It is said that beyond success lies significance–the legacy you leave through your work. Network marketing provides an ideal platform for creating that legacy by developing successors. The leadership aspects of network marketing are truly the most rewarding. There's nothing more gratifying than helping others discover and fulfill their potential, especially when you know that in doing so, you are helping them do the same for others.