My name is Keith Jenkins. I have been involved with Home based businesses and MLM for about 15 years now. I have made a few bucks over the years while involved with these companies. I have learned a few lessons over the years. The thing that I think most people don’t realize is that they are going to have to contact literally thousands of people to find a few that are interested in their particular opportunity. Less than 5% of people that actually get involved with MLM ever make more than a few bucks. This is a fact that I think the MLM/Home Based Business Industry just doesn’t seem to want to tell you. After all, if you knew how much time, effort, energy and money that it was actually going to take, would you still join? Probably not. It has been my experience that most people join one of these types of businesses because they are “caught up in the moment” or are excited about the “income potential”, but never really give any thought on how they are going to market it. Usually the person that is talking to them about the opportunity is fairly new themselves, and hasn’t really earned the 6 figure income that they are talking about. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it is what it is. It is sort of like the blind leading the blind. So let’s be practical and realistic about what we are trying to do. We know that we are going to have to contact thousands of people. We know that we are going to have to purchase leads, or market somehow. This is the money element of building a business. It usually takes money to make money. Now I know a few of you out there will be reading this saying… “there are ways to market for free” and I agree with you. However, in most situations if you want a good quality marketing system that produces good quality, you are going to have to pay for it. We know that email marketing is becoming less and less effective because of deliverability problems. Someone… probably you, is going to have to have some “face time” or “phone time” to explain your opportunity. This is the “time element” of building your business. Most people that you actually end up talking to will not be qualified, will not have the money, or not be interested in your opportunity. This leaves a tiny portion of people that will actually get involved with you and your opportunity. That is fantastic… But now, we have the same problem all over again. This person is going to have to learn the same “cycle” as you did, and most people (as we mentioned early) will not have the time, money, or inclination to actually build the business once they are in. So what if we could change the entire system around? Why don’t we tell the whole truth from the beginning when we are talking to our new prospects? Why don’t we create systems and checks and balances to help them, rather than just “hoping” they figure it out? Why don’t we share some of the workload? That’s what I did in my business. We have turned the entire process around. This is what we did… First off, we have a calling center that calls, qualifies, and closes all the prospects. We have already come to the logical conclusion that we are going to have to contact literally thousands of people. What are the chances that you alone are going to be able to do that? If you had a calling center working for you, this becomes much more likely. The calling center is fully qualified in selling the product and the opportunity, so there is no “learning curve” for you. Secondly, we have a built in lead generation machine. This creates and endless supply of reasonably qualified prospects for our calling center to call on for you. This is typically paid for when the new person comes on board as part of the cost of getting started. Thirdly, pay out a lot of money. Many of the companies that I have been involved with didn’t pay very much. I remember one time when I was working for a company, I was paying over 4.00 per lead, and if I signed someone up I made $15.00. This is the definition of insanity. It took me more than 10 leads to close one sale. So I was actually spending more than I was making. 10’s of thousands of MLM’ers are doing that right now today in their businesses. They are spending more than they are earning, and it is driving them broke. Some are in denial about that. They thing that ‘someday” the residual will catch up to them… I have found that just isn’t necessarily true. You need to make money on the “front” When the sale is made you need to make enough money for a profit, and to be able to keep the “machinery” of lead generation and marketing going. Our average commission is over $1000.00 per sale made by our calling center. With this type of payout, it is “worth it” to be a part of. With just two sales a week made by the calling center, that is a six figure income. The Fourth and Final Concept… Remove yourself from the process. Many of us get involved in MLM to have a business that makes money residually. That means that money comes in each and every month without us having to be involved in making that happen. With the call center concept, you actually take yourself out of the picture. It is a truly turnkey operation. Leads, marketing, call center closing, package delivery, and payment is all handled by the call center. By making a system that is truly “turn-key” it removes you from the process. You don’t have to bother friends and family. You don’t even have to make a phone call… It’s all done for you. I love the MLM industry. I have made hundreds of friends from around the world. I have gone across stage many times as a leader with the companies that I have been involved with. But what I am really after is an opportunity that will work without me. A business that will be self-propelled. A business that will continue to grow without my personal attention, or my personal production, to keep it going. This way I have setup a business, put it together, and now have moved on. However, the income stream that I have developed continues to come in month after month. After all, isn’t that what we are trying to achieve in the first place? As always, we would love to hear your questions, comments or ideas on anything that we write.