Do You Know The 10 Questions To Ask BEFORE Joining Any Business?
It’s always a tough decision… and sometimes it can keep you awake nights.
Should I pull the trigger?
Should I join this business opportunity?
There’s never a guarantee that decision you make will be the right one, but there is a way to throw the odds in your favor.
The answer lies in asking the right questions.
I own a marketing business. Day in and day out I get asked the same questions:
- How much money will I make?
- How fast can I make money?
- How much money do YOU make?
There’s nothing wrong with these questions, except they don’t accomplish anything.
The answer to the first 2 questions depends on YOU.
The answer to the last question has nothing to do with YOU.
You need to be asking the right questions to assess a business opportunity.
The ones that get right to the heart of whether or not a business is the right one for you.
Questions about the products. Questions about the compensation plan. Questions about the leadership of the company.
In fact, there are a series of 10 questions that I believe to be the most important questions you can ask before joining any network marketing or MLM home business. The answers will go a long way towards qualifying (and disqualifying) a business as one that you would want to partner with.
I’ve just completed a Special Report that I want to pass along to you, my loyal readers. It was written for my primary business opportunity, but I thought it would be just as valuable to you as a Business Assessment Guide – useful for qualifying any business. It was written in a general tense so that you can find value in this Report.
Here is the Link to The Report:
10 Crucial Questions You MUST Ask Before Joining Carbon Copy PRO or ANY Network Marketing Business
There’s no opt in needed… just click and ENJOY.
And once again, thank you for your trust and your loyalty. It means a lot to me.
Respectfully,
Dr. Bob
How Much “Skin” Do You Have In The Game?
Rosemary and I just returned from the beautiful Dominican Republic, where we were taking in some sun and relaxing, followed by our company’s Private Wealth Conference.
With Natalie Stahl at the Paradisius Resort
At the Conference, we met up with our good friend and fellow entrepreneur, Natalie Stahl. Natalie is CEO of Platinum 7 Profits and a very seasoned business owner.
We sat down over a few drinks in the lobby and were discussing some joint projects we are working on, when the subject of SUCCESS came up. More specifically….
What does it take to “make it” when starting a new business?
Natalie made a point that makes a lot of sense. She told me that, in her experience, any new business owner doesn’t have a chance unless they have “skin in the game.”
If this saying is not familiar to you, it means that you’ve got to have a lot at stake when starting a business, namely money.
Not money you could make, but money you’ve put in to your business as start up capital.
Why?
Anyone who has their own business understands that the obstacles are plenty and the urge to give up can be fierce. This is especially true at the beginning, when one usually makes mistake after mistake before they “get it.”
And if you don’t have a lot at stake, a lot of SKIN in the game ($$$), then giving up is WAY TOO EASY.
I’ve been a student of human nature for quite some time, and I am coming to the belief the GIVING UP may just be part of human nature. Maybe that’s too strong, but my point is this. Most people (97%) of new home business owners will quit before they come to profit.
Why? Because most home businesses, especially MLM require relatively little capital to get started, less than $1-2000. This amount of money is not enough to keep people from throwing in the towel when times get tough, when results don’t come fast enough, and when quitting seems easier than the work needed to make your business profitable.
Rosemary and I are good examples.
Our first business was in MLM. It was a decent company with good products. But we were very green, and knew nothing about starting a business. Our start up capital was about $1500, pennies when you consider that it can take hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a brick and mortar business or franchise.
The obstacles came fast and often when we started. We gave it a good try, but within a year it was easier to justify quitting than spending the time and energy needed to see a profit. WE QUIT.
A while later we were ready to try again, but this time we got involved not in MLM, but in a Direct Sales company. We were drawn in by the products, the marketing system, and the lucrative compensation plan. But to be at the top of the plan, to make the most profit per sale, we needed to put down $20,000.
This was a lot of money to us back then. We hesitated, kicked the idea around, and came up with all the pros and cons. But the bottom line was this….
We knew that, with that much money at stake, we would never give up. It was just too much money to give up.
We had “skin in the game”.
It was admittedly a leap of faith, a big risk to take.
But no business was ever started without risk.
To your success!
What Should You Look For in a Network Marketing Sponsor?
I often see people interested in starting a home based business spend an inordinate amount of time “sponsor shopping”. Surfing the Internet searching for the “perfect” sponsor can be both time consuming and very confusing.
It’s confusing because people don’t really know what or who they’re looking for.
Which brings me to the key point of this blog post —
What kind of sponsor should you be looking for?
Should you be looking for….
- the person who makes the most money in this company?
- the person with ties to the company leadership?
- the person newer to the industry who will be able to spend a lot of time holding your hand?
- the person who is most like you in temperament?
While all of these choices might, on the surface seem logical, these are not the characteristics or ingredients you should look for in a sponsor.
So what SHOULD you look for?
It’s very simple, but it took me a while to figure it out.
And before I did, I was exactly the WRONG kind of sponsor, not really helping my team or their businesses.
You want a sponsor with one key character trait —>
You want someone is going to TELL YOU THE TRUTH.
Tell it like it is. No sugar coating.
You want someone to tell you what you NEED to hear, not what you want to hear.
This is what Rosemary and I tell everyone who joins our team:
We’ll do what we can to help you make the kind of money you want, but it’s going to be one of the most challenging things you’ve done in your life. It will take work, money, time, and occasionally getting out of your comfort zone.
We will never do the work for you. We won’t give you all the answers. But we WILL show you where to look for the solutions to what’s holding you back.
In other words, we will help you become LEADERS, not someone just blindly following a system. There’s little doubt that you can make money following the Carbon Copy PRO system.
But you can make BIG MONEY by being a leader.
That’s where we come in.
So what kind of sponsor should you be looking for?
- Not the biggest money earner
- Not the easiest to get along with
- Not the one who will hold your hand
You want a person who will help you when you need it by showing you HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM ON YOUR OWN.
You want a person who will STRATEGIZE with you, not do it for you.
You want a sponsor who will help you to develop your LEADERSHIP SKILLS.
You want a sponsor who will EMPOWER YOU TO LEAD, not enable you to follow.
You see the difference?
5 Essential Strategies For Growing Your Home-Based Business Part Time
Hi Everyone,
The following is an article I recently wrote regarding the special challenges that those working their home businesses part time are faced with.
Thought you might enjoy it. Read below….
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We’ve all heard the feel good stories of people who quit their job soon after starting a home-based business to work full time from home. While this should be the goal of all home business owners, the reality is that most people need to continue working at a full time job, at least for a while. This means growing your business part time, a scenario that can often present a very different set of challenges.
There are specific strategies you can use to make sure you invest sufficient time in your home business to reach your goals.
Continue reading this article.
To your success!
Dr. Bob Clarke
Dr. Clarke’s primary business opportunity
The Quickest Path to Becoming a Network Marketing Leader
One of the most common questions I get from new members of my home business team goes something like this:
“There’s so much to learn! What skills should I concentrate on first? “
Before I answer this, let’s get one thing very clear…. and this is critical to get:
Your success in network marketing will be directly related to your VALUE TO THE MARKETPLACE.
What does this mean? It means that the amount of money you make will be a result of how many new members join your business. And how many people join your business will be directly related to the likelihood that people see you as THE LEADER who will help them obtain their particular needs and wants.
That is, a PERSON OF VALUE.
Having said this, I’ve found that there are 3 critical skills that, if learned, will make you the leader that people will jump over walls to join your team.
In no particular order, here they are (along with recommendations of what I consider to be the best resources available to gain these skills):
Skill #1: Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC). PPC is the single most important marketing skill to master in today’s world of the Internet. PPC has changed the way of traditional marketing. Instead of cold calling, making lists of friends and family, and the good ‘ol 3-foot-rule, we now have mechanism to identify people who are searching for exactly what we have to offer. And there are no geographical limitations. But this is not a skill easily mastered, and to enter this market unprepared can cost you big time! Google is the biggest player in this market.
Recommendation: I strongly recommend Mike Dillard’s PPC Domination course, particularly those who are in the MLM or Direct Sales market. Easy to understand videos and exhaustive resources make the PPC Domination course on the best investments for your online business. It is the most cost effective and complete way to learn PPC from the bottom up.
Skill #2: Copywriting. Copywriting, or the ability to write compelling ad copy that will elicit the response you are looking for (i.e. sales) is the second skill that will, when mastered, will add tremendous value to the marketplace and compel people to follow you. This again is not an easy skill to master, and requires a bit of practice to get it right, but there are several online and off line resources to help.
Recommendations: There are a couple of blogs that are tremendous resources for people looking to learn ad copy. The first blog is written by John Carlton, an expert copywriter who started off line and had made the jump to online marketing about as successfully as anyone. John Carlton’s Big Damn Blog is full of tips, examples, and free content that will set you on the path to becoming an expert copywriter. The second blog, Copyblogger.com, is another excellent resource.
If you prefer books, I can strongly recommend Hypnotic Writing, by Joe Vitale. I just finished this book, and it is about as excellent a copywriting resource as you will find. Easy to read, plenty of examples, and includes both online (emails, ads) and offline (sales letters) examples on how to best persuade your readers to take action.
Skill #3: Positioning and Posture. In order to be the leader that people are searching for, you need to have value. We have already established this. But you also need to BE THE LEADER, to know how to position yourself as the person people NEED to join.
Positioning yourself as a leader may be THE most critical skill to learn in order to make BIG money in Network Marketing. You can have all the marketing and business skills in the world, but if you cannot promote yourself in such a way that people see you as the person who can take them to the Promised Land, then you have nothing.
Recommendation: Back when I was looking to position myself as a leader, I asked my upline what he considered the best resource on the subject. He pointed me in the direction of Blackbelt Recruiting, by Mike Dillard of Magnetic Sponsoring. This CD series teaches you step by step how to begin the process of positioning and maintain and grow it as your business expands. This is a can’t miss: Blackbelt Recruiting.
So there you have it, the 3 skills that will put you in to the Top Earner category for any company you represent in Network Marketing:
- Pay-per-click Marketing
- Copywriting
- Posture and Positioning
While it will not be possible to become expert in all 3 skills in the very beginning, this is where I steer my new members when getting started. Even having a basic knowledge of these skills will go a long way to growing your network marketing home based business.
MLM Success: No Experience Necessary?
If you spend any time on Google or the other search engines, you’ve undoubtedly seen ads for home businesses where it is boldly stated…..
NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED!!!
Well, I guess it is true that you need not have any prior experience in sales, marketing, or business ownership to START your home business. But SUCCEEDING as a home business?
Well, that’s another story.
I consider myself a fairly smart guy. Ph.D. in physiology at the age of 26, postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, Associate Professor at Cornell University Medical College.
But when it came time to start a home business with my wife, Rosemary…… I was MYSTIFIED.
I mean, this was a whole new world!
I had never sold anything, never marketed online or offline…. but I was told that there was NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY to start a home business, so I dove right in.
What did I find? What everyone other network marketing newbie finds…
Confusion, Frustration, and Bewilderment.
Listen up guys… NO matter what anyone tells you….
THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE when you start anything new…. including Network Marketing.
How big is this learning curve? That depends.
- It depends on how much time you’re willing to spend learning your new craft.
- It depends on your level of experience when you start your business. Obviously, the more experience you’ve had, the farther up on the learning curve you will be.
- It depends on the business opportunity and how much in-house training they offer, and the quality of that training.
The last one was the reason we chose our current business, because they offered online training and education above and beyond anything we had seen (or have seen since) in the industry (the business is Carbon Copy PRO, and this isn’t a plug, just the truth).
But it still took TIME.
No getting around it… it just does.
Are you willing to invest in YOU, to get the training and experience you need, and be patient for the results?
I hear so many stories of people quitting their home business opportunity just before they are ready to reap the profits of their hard work. They become inpatient and disillusioned.
YOU CAN BE A SUCCESS IN NETWORK MARKETING.
IT MAY JUST TAKE A WHILE.
To your patience and dedication,
Dr. Bob Clarke
October 6, 2008; Cresskill, NJ
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