Why Network Marketing?

- By Dara Kang

This question has many answers and each one depends on the individual situation of the person asking it, and how they believe an opportunity of any kind would best bring value to their lives.

Why Network Marketing? The short answer is – because it is the only feasible and accessible way that the average (or even above average) person can create a passive income large enough to fund themselves into retirement (early or otherwise) and possibly even independent wealth. Superannuation schemes have already proven to be grossly inadequate world-wide (even in a healthy economy) with the average person having to sooner or later rely on a government pension to live out their days, the only passive income most will ever know. But with the baby-boomer generation pushing the ratio of working population to those reaching retirement age to a critical tipping point, how can any nation of tax-payers possibly maintain a pension generous enough to sustain an aging and ailing population when the cost of living is mercilessly on the rise?

So when you think of retirement, do you see it as an age you must reach, a sum of money you must accumulate or an income you must acquire? How long would the money under the mattress last if the income did stop coming in and you actually did live well into old age?

Why is income important? It’s no secret that acquiring an income producing asset is the best way to secure your financial future. Banks have been giving away lump sums of money in return for interest-bearing passive incomes since they were first formed and we have seen evidence of their record breaking profits on the news media year after year (With perhaps the exception of recent events surrounding the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in what’s looking like the world’s worst ever economic collapse…but that’s another story).

However, for individuals, such an opportunity is normally attempted by method of Investing in shares or the property market. But when the average person spends more than 100% of their income and is drowning in debt, how can they possibly find the money to buy enough shares where the dividends would ever be enough to support them, let alone find the deposit and short-fall (ongoing repayments minus rental income) to purchase an investment property, even if the share and property markets hadn’t collapsed and it was actually viable to sell at a profit? In such a market, capital without income is even worse than income without capital, especially when your asset incurs expenses. And is buying just to sell for a profit really investing or simply retail?

Unfortunately, the average person is their only income producing asset and has to trade hours of their life in return for income – whether they are an employee or self-employed.

Employees can work their guts out their whole lives at one job but as an employee:

• you will never be paid what you’re worth
• you will never be able to sell your job or leave it to your children
• you will never be guaranteed that the job will last

The Self-Employed on the other hand often go from the frying pan to the fire, becoming prisoners to their business and not being able to afford to take time off to get sick or take holidays and usually paying themselves last, after their employees and all other expenses…and that’s assuming they can find enough work to pay the bills in the first place at a time when discretionary spending is likely to hit an all-time low.

And after all that, do you actually have a saleable asset when you’re self-employed? Too often you become so immersed in your business you have no time to work on your business and in the end, you are your business. How can you sell a business that needs you in it to make it work? And unless you’ve taken the time to teach the business to your kids, is it of any use or value to them if you’re suddenly not around?

So that only leaves the last of Kiyosaki’s cashflow quadrants, that of the big business builder. But how many people have the starting capital, operating experience, management knowledge and entrepreneurial foresight to be able to make such a thing possible? While it’s true that multi-billionaires like Donald Trump and Warren Buffet have financial interests in the network marketing industry, it is the only industry where those of lesser means can learn the skills necessary to create true wealth through the building of an ever-expanding, exponentially growing organisation made up of individuals much like themselves with the same dreams, frustrated having tried to achieve financial freedom by more conventional means.

Having the backing of a large company is much like purchasing a franchise where the hard work has been done for you and you inherit a proven system for success. Whatever company you join takes care of such things as research and development, sourcing raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, warehousing, freight, order taking, accounts receivable and accounts payable. Often combined with field leadership, the company will also provide you with updated sales and marketing tools to make the job of getting the information to people even easier.

That’s right, all the excuses are gone! And now you can concentrate on the single task that is the real determining factor in the success of any business…the ability to form effective relationships with other people. The skills required to do this most effectively are almost exclusively what the network marketing industry teaches and probably the reason that Trump and Kiyosaki make Network Marketing their number 1 business recommendation in their collaborative book – “Why We Want You to Be Rich”. What you learn from this industry will improve your chances of success when applied to any other industry in the business sector – and for that matter – every other aspect of your life.

You see, the principles applied to make you better at building effective relationships can also make you a more successful parent, friend, spouse, child, sibling etc. Applying them to a network marketing business simply gives you a way to measure how much you are growing by. How much is your income growing? Let’s count…

But beware! The industry is not for the faint hearted. While it is simple by definition, it is not easy. But then nothing new ever is! To expect to do something successfully without undertaking the training required is insanity. It can be an emotional roller-coaster ride which will not only teach you a great deal about yourself as you wrestle with your self-accountability, but it will quickly reveal your friendships as they really are and your real standing in your particular circle of influence. Just don’t let this break your spirit and you will soar to new heights of awareness and prosperity that you never thought possible – on your journey to becoming the you that success finds attractive.

Dara Kang.

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