You probably already heard of “being your own boss” when it comes to building a business — but for a beginner entrepreneur, that responsibility might be daunting.
There’s so much more to being a business owner and an entrepreneur than just reaping financial success. With the accompanying challenges and risks, starting a business from scratch without any practical background in entrepreneurship might not be the wisest decision.
But what if you want to become your own boss, work flexible hours, and have complete control over your day — all while making money?
As a beginner entrepreneur, network marketing may just be one of the best options for you.
What is Network Marketing?
No matter where you are in the world, you probably grew up with household staple brands like Tupperware, Avon, or Mary Kay. But did you know that those successful brands became possible because of network marketing?
Network marketing is a type of business model that relies on a network of independent distributors moving the products from the manufacturer to consumers. If you want to grow your business at a solid level, your job is to establish an organization made up of customers and fellow independent distributors. The leaders in your organization will then develop a group of people who will reach out to the potential customers and also acquire new distributors. Eventually, this group will get other people to sell the same products and the chain goes on.
In the best network marketing companies, you benefit from the group’s overall sales volume and not just direct referrals. This is what makes this industry very attractive.
You might also be more familiar with network marketing with its other terms like multi-level marketing (MLM) or referral marketing. In a way, it’s also considered affiliate marketing because you get commissions from people who used your link to purchase.
But no matter what the name is, network marketing essentially works by both selling products and acquiring people and training them as distributors to sell the same products. Yes, you could make a living by just getting customers who will buy your products, but to be highly successful and amass wealth in this industry, you need to acquire and train new distributors.
Benefits of Network Marketing for Entrepreneurs
Beginner entrepreneurs all dream of having their own businesses someday. Some want to pursue this path sooner than later. Did you know that in the United States alone, about 500,000 new businesses are set up monthly?
But at the same time, around 7 out of 10 businesses are likely to shut down early in their operation. This is the harsh truth about this particular venture. It’s potentially easy to start and almost anyone can do it. However, making sure that your business will succeed takes skill and experience.
This is where network marketing can be highly beneficial for a beginner entrepreneur. Here are some benefits that network marketing can give you:
1. Low risks, high potential returns
The problem with outright starting your own business without any setbacks is the high risks, especially in terms of finances. You could lose thousands of dollars in inventory, overhead costs, and advertising if you don’t know what you’re doing.
With network marketing, joining a company to become one of its marketers doesn’t cost a lot. The start-up cost is usually flexible and can accommodate your current financial capacity. In my case, I was able to start my network marketing business for only $500! To be honest, some of my purses are actually more expensive than my business starter kit, so it’s a no-brainer for me to invest in a business like this. Especially compared to when I started my Amazon FBA business wherein I had to shell out thousands of dollars just to get started.
There’s also a large room for high, immediate returns. When it comes to starting a business on your own from scratch, there is a certain period where you’ll hardly receive any profit. Business owners have no choice but to push through because they already put a significant amount of money into it. This period is where most businesses reach their breaking point due to financial strain.
But with network marketing, you have complete control over your ROI as long as you’re able to sell a couple of products. Depending on the package that you chose, you could easily get back your initial investment in the first few months. Your financial commitment to joining network marketing is very little and you won’t be financially incapacitated just in case this doesn’t work out for you.
2. FREE training in personal development, sales, and business skills
Network marketing companies usually offer free training materials, personal development, and team support for their associates, which, for me is really one of the best things that this industry provides. I personally have paid thousands of dollars for a business mentor and when you join a network marketing company, you get access to a business mentor for FREE!
Personal development is crucial for beginner entrepreneurs because this is how you get strong and build your character. Business-building is not an easy task because there will be challenges along the way and you need to be mentally tough to get through the ups and downs of your business. Joining network marketing is a great way for beginner entrepreneurs to gain experience and hone their skills in managing a business without the accompanied great risks.
Since network marketing works more effectively when the people involved are highly motivated, companies take special attention to creating the best environment where leaders and forward-thinkers thrive.
Network marketing companies give a lot of space for professional growth where you can evolve from being a marketer to being a mentor to new team members. This allows you to have and develop critical business and leadership skills that are important once you decide to go on your own.
3. Promotes independence while still having a reliable support system
It’s very appealing to be your own boss —and for a very good reason.
Even if you’re still technically working for a company, you have complete control over your own network marketing business. You can set your own pace and your professional growth in your own time.
You also control how much you’re going to put into your business and how much you’re going to earn. This makes it ideal for beginner entrepreneurs who are worried about the potential risks and losses that they might encounter.
Because of its flexibility, it is also ideal for those who are looking for side hustles. So if you’re a stay-at-home mom, a full-time worker, or a student, this type of business might be more suitable and attainable for you.
The beautiful thing about network marketing is that besides that flexibility, you get the support of your team at the same time as well. Having a great team is something to consider when starting this business because they can help you reach your goals faster.
4. There’s potentially no profit ceiling
As long as you put in the hustle and work, there’s no limit on how much money you can potentially generate in a network marketing business. Unlimited income is possible because you are highly leveraged since you have sales distributors and repeat customers in your organization that produce the sales.
In a traditional business setting, you don’t get that kind of leverage unless you have a massive amount of capital and manpower at your disposal. A small mom-and-pop shop’s revenue is tied to the amount of inventory that it can produce. A small service-based business owner is capped by the number of hours or people working in his company. Not to mention that you have to keep an eye on your cash flow so you can keep the business churning. When the production is capped because of not having enough cash flow, then the revenue is also capped. In network marketing, you don’t have to worry about cash flow, and no headaches from people on your payroll.
If you’re skilled in selling products online or offline, and have systems in place, then you can thrive in this kind of set-up. And if you are consistent and persistent enough in the long term, you can even make a fortune here in this industry.
5. Networking business is highly portable
If there’s something that the current market trend taught us for the last couple of months is that the “traditional” way of doing business isn’t enough anymore.
More and more brands move from traditional brick-and-mortar establishments to fully-fledged online stores because doing everything over the internet is already the norm. Not every business will survive this switch but for network marketing businesses, this is highly attainable.
From marketing mainly using phones and in real-life conversations, network marketing companies easily made the move online. As long as you have an internet connection, you can manage your business right at your home or practically anywhere else. As someone who loves to travel and live that freedom lifestyle, this was one of the reasons I was attracted to network marketing.
6. This business model is a lot less complicated and does not require technical skills.
Since I have built my Shopify and Amazon businesses before I started my network marketing business, I can say from experience that network marketing is a lot less complex and takes a lot less learning curve than other business models. Unlike my Amazon and Shopify business, I had to figure out everything including product research, suppliers, software, logistics, operation, customer service, and traffic generation. With network marketing, the only thing that you need to focus on is the marketing part, because the rest is taken care of by your partner company. This is why I think everyone should start with network marketing as a foundation of their entrepreneur journey.
Network Marketing Conclusion
If someone were to ask me what business I would like to pursue if I was just starting out, I would definitely explore this business first. I personally think it’s a great foundation to have an overall offers more upsides than downsides.
If you feel like this is something you want to explore this business model, I invite you yo to at least take a look at my company and my team’s irresistible offer. You really wouldn’t want to miss it!