There are so many scams in home business that as soon as you mention the idea to someone, they or a family member are likely to assume that it’s a scam. Getting past this and other objections is very important to successfully building your direct sales downline.

Of course, worry about an opportunity being a scam isn’t the only objections you’ll run across. It’s likely to be the most common, however.

To effectively address this concern you need to know what constitutes a scam, especially in the eyes of the prospect. Explain to them what the symptoms of a scam are, and why your opportunity shows no signs of being a scam. These signs may include:

• Excessive emphasis on recruiting. Some opportunities are almost entirely about recruiting, and almost not at all about sales. If an opportunity pays for recruiting, there is a lot of temptation for marketers to work on that alone, rather than sales. This can be a sign of a problem.
• Required purchases. Requiring members to make purchases in order to be paid on their sales can be a symptom of a scam. Your opportunity should pay you whether or not you needed to buy anything yourself in a particular month. Otherwise, this is dangerously close to paying for recruiting. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most amazing things about the internet is how many different ways you can earn money from it. Some are pretty well known, while others may be options you haven’t even thought of yet.

No matter how you earn money online you need to do your research first. You want a market you will enjoy, targeted enough that you can get good traffic, something that has enough people interested in the topic. You want some competition, as that is an indication that there are people interested in the product. Too much competition can make for a difficult start.

Affiliate Marketing
My personal favorite, although not as easy as some would like you to believe. You can find great products to represent from Clickbank, Shareasale, Linkshare, Commission Junction and similar companies.

Blogging
More or less a subset of affiliate marketing, many people earn good money by blogging. It takes a lot of work but can be quite profitable. Money is earned most often through affiliate marketing or contextual ads. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the benefits of working in direct sales is that many companies allow you to build a downline, and you get commissions off the sales of your downline. This gives you income even if you yourself are not selling at the moment.

Obviously, this means you really want to build a downline as well as your own business.

For many people, building a downline is even harder than finding customers. It’s one thing to buy a product, after all, quite another to start a business and actually work at it. Then you have many people who may sign up in your downline but simply make no or very few sales.

Just as in any other business, not everyone is going to succeed in direct sales, and you might be surprised by who succeeds. The more people in your downline, the more chances you have for people who really work the business to be in your downline, but it can also increase your workload.

Even before you start building your downline, you need to know what you have to offer them. I don’t just mean incentives for signing up under you. That may get signups, but if they never produce sales, what good is that? You need to provide support, and help your downline learn to make sales. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve ever posted on a work at home forum that you’re thinking about starting a home business, you probably got flooded with replies all more or less saying “I’ve got a great opportunity for you!” So how do you decide which is the right one for you?

They say follow your passion, and this is a start for choosing the perfect direct sales company. These companies offer all kinds of possibilities, from selling makeup and such from the long established ones such as Mary Kay and Avon, to working with a brand new company that is just starting up.

Once you have decided which kinds of products you would like to represent, you need to start reviewing the companies. The Direct Sales Association is a great place to start. Their members must commit to a Code of Ethics. This gives you at least a little reassurance that the company intends to be professional and honest.

Find out what you can about the company: how long it has been in business, the range of products you can sell, what kind of investment is required, how many reps are in your area. You need to know if the market in your area is saturated, not covered at all or somewhere in between. After all, no matter how much success Aunt Sadie, Cousin Marie and five of your closest friends are having, if they’re all with the same company you need to think about where your customers will be coming from.

It is also important to look at who you sign up with. I would look first at the people who are eager enough to respond to you quickly, but if things just don’t click with them you might be better signing up through someone else. Your upline is often a major source of knowledge and support, which is vital to your success.

Direct sales is popular as a work at home business for good reason – it can be fun and there’s money to be made. But there are also challenges and money to be lost if you don’t know what you’re getting into from the start.

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