Understanding Your Business Model

My own business building blueprint

Is It Better To Be A One Trick Business Pony – Live Google+ Hangout

Join Tim Buist, Andie Petoskey and myself live August 9th at 6PM EST, as we discuss the pros and cons of being focused on a single business as opposed to creating a diversified business lineup.

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Are Home Party Businesses Making A Comeback?

Lately, I have seen more and more leaders talking about home party businesses.  Which has led me to wonder whether this type of business model is making a comeback.   There seems to be a shifting of the winds in the direct selling industry.  Over the past several years the trend has been a movement away from hotel meetings and home parties to a 100% online attraction marketing based model.    Then something interesting began to take shape about a year ago.  I started to hear more and more top internet network marketers touting the importance of offline marketing…particularly in home meetings.    Now the interesting thing is that many of these leaders are not promoting traditional home party businesses; however, they are applying the same principles to the building of their particular business.  Read more... (617 words, 1 image, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)

Why I Am Adding Visalus To My Business Portfolio

This past week I took the plunge and added ViSalus Sciences to my business lineup.   If you’ve spent much time online, especially in social media, you have undoubtedly seen many people promoting the 90 day Body By Vi challenge.   I had never really given much thought to joining the company, because I have never really gotten excited about nutritional products so I’ve chosen to focus my energies on other niche markets.   All of that changed a few weeks ago when one of my business partners approached me about coming into ViSalus as part of a larger marketing group.    This caused me to take a closer look at the company and why it might be a good addition to my business lineup.  Read more... (1175 words, 1 image, estimated 4:42 mins reading time)

Micro-Franchising Through Network Marketing

Burger King, McDonalds and Subway are some of the best known franchise businesses in the world.  Each year these companies add large numbers of new locations to better serve their ever expanding customer base.  Read more... (518 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

What Is MLM?

What is MLM?  The question seems simple enough doesn’t it?  In reality the question is simple; however, the understanding people have of this type of business is all over the map.   A quick Google search of this question will bring up a myriad of answers including such terms as:  residual income, home business, pyramid scheme and scam.   At times separating fact from fiction can seem like a daunting task indeed.   It is my hope in this blog post to give you the fundamental aspects of this business model and bring some clarity to the question of:  ”What is MLM?”  Read more... (755 words, estimated 3:01 mins reading time)

Internet Business Opportunities You Should Avoid

Internet business opportunities are being pushed at you from every angle these days.  Some internet business opportunities are really great business ventures for the entrepreneur seeking to develop an online business model.  Unfortunately other opportunities are nothing more than outright MLM scams meant to separate the unsuspecting victim from his or her money.   In the next few moments I hope to give you some helpful tips that will help you find the real opportunities, while quickly dismissing those things that are not.  Read more... (497 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Building A Network Marketing Business Takes Work

This may come as a surprise to many, but building a network marketing business takes work.  I find it amazing how many people seem to think that you can build a business without putting any real effort into it.  They have confused the simplicity of the business model with the effort that it takes to make that business model profitable.  Read more... (575 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Bad Pitching Doesn’t Just Happen In Baseball

It is World Series time here in America and baseball fans across the country are looking forward to seeing the Giants and Rangers square off.  This got me to thinking about pitching, but not the baseball kind.  I mean network marketing business pitching and in this case bad pitching.  Read more... (700 words, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)

What is Multiple Level Marketing?

Multiple level marketing, which is often known as network marketing, MLM or multi level marketing, is an often misunderstood business concept.  At its core, MLM is a direct sales business model that utilizes a tiered compensation strategy.  Today there are more than 4,000 companies that utilize this model in their retail business. In 2009 in the U.S. alone, these companies made $28.33 billion dollars in sales, according to the Direct Selling Association.  This overview is meant to give you a greater understanding of how this business model works and why it is attractive to those seeking a home based business opportunity.  Read more... (644 words, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)