Network Marketing Doesn’t Work (For Me)

I’m sure it’s great for lots of people but I’ve come to the conclusion – yet again – that Network Marketing is not for me.  The potential earnings / profit margin just are not big enough to justify my time and effort.  So we are closing this catagory of the blog again.  Please do not contact me with any more so-called opportunites.  I’m done with it.

Breakthrough Of Network Marketing Frustration

I’ve had a bit of a breakthrough with the overwhelm and frustration I’ve been feeling with getting going with Success University as a turnkey “affiliate” product to integrate with my other affiliate marketing activities. All thanks to the boys from ViralURL.com.

I was online watching Jason Moffatt’s live ustream tv broadcast covering the launch of Frank Kern’s InfoMillionaire product giveaway (and yes, I did get one – so more on that later!).

As I was waiting, an email came through from Frank & Colin at the affiliate cloaking service I use called  ViralURL saying they had just joined Success University, how powerful the system was as a turnkey affiliate product, and showing how you could integrate your SU membership with your  ViralURL membership.

They were saying that, as the SU membership was binary (don’t ask, I’m still a bit vague!) and they would only be building two downlines, everyone who signed up under them would get their overspill. Now, I think that means that if you are number 3 or 4 to sign up, under 1 & 2, you get placed under 1 & 2, rather than under Frank & Colin.

Then if you are 5 or 6, you go under 3 and 4, etc, etc. So essentially if you sign up under Frank & Colin, you benefit from their marketing activities as well as your own.

I suddenly had this epiphany about ….

a) how I would be doing that too, so anyone signing up under me would benefit from my activities as I would be placing my recruits under higher level recruits

b) how I could intergrate my SU membership not only with my  ViralURL membership but with my MyViralSpiral membership and mailing list.

c) How I could help my new SU members to get online, using the internet marketing tools we have already in the Money Gym – the home study course, the camtasia videos on how to set up a Wordpress blog and membership site….

And offer live training days to my SU team here in the UK, most of whom are a bit clueless about internet marketing full stop. The real online stars in SU are in the USA apparently.

Phew, thank god for that says G, who introduced me to Success University. He’s been on the recieving end of all my confusion and frustration this week and shows remarkable patience all the time.

The other thing I told G I can bring to the table is a short, concise guide for busy, overwhelmed people, on how to integrate SU into their existing online activities. Nicola’s “Dead Simple Guide For Too-Busy Idiots To Get Up & Running Fast with Network Marketing”, if you like.

See my next post for that.

MLM / Network Marketing – Attracting Leads Online

So I’m working through the emails from Success University and from G, my upline introducer, and I find a link he’s sent me about a guy called Daegan Smith, in the USA, the self-styled “King Of Never Calling A Single Lead” and who has created an online system for generating leads to his SU business.

The interesting thing about Daegan is that he’s harnessing the power of the every growing online community, and linking network marketing with internet marketing – exactly what I want to do.

He’s offering a free CD to get you started but the main page you go to is offering the CD with a continuity programme (membership site) on the back end.

I’m liking what I’m seeing so far but I’m not ready to sign up for anything else that is a regular monthly outgoing yet even if it is only $37 a month.  And when I do, I want an affiliate link!

He’s obviously an experienced internet marketer as he’s using blogging, online video, autoresponder follow up and all the usual stuff.

I clicked on his home page and found somewhere to order the free CD (you just pay shipping) and get some nice bonuses, without having to commit to the membership payment. It’s on it’s way and I’ll let you know if it’s any good.

When you buy the CD, you get to watch a video before going on to download your bonuses.  It’s interesting watching.

Then you get offered his whole system for $297, managed to resist that.  Then when you say no, you are offered a $47 product, said yes to that (want to take some action this weekend and can’t wait for CD) then you get offered the Platinum version for $77!

Phew – managed to get away with buying just an ebook I think!  Where’s the bloomin’ affiliate link eh?  Ah, here it is.  Blimey, you need to be approved and it’s takes 72 hours!

While I’m looking for ways to get started with my new Network Marketing business, also called MLM, I’m mulling over the whole top level concept of network marketing.

I tried other companies, in the past, like the water and air filters, and flirted briefly with video email, specifically because I loved the products and I knew I could sell them, but I never quite “got” the concept of building a business downline….

I don’t want to be involved in something where the ONLY point is the recruiting of other people…I want the product to be good enough to stand up on it’s own.

So I’ve also been for a mooch about to make sure there is stuff in the Learning Centre that I want to listen to and watch.

And there is.  But when, eh?

** This post is sponsored by The Money Gym @ Success University If you want to join Nicola in her journey to Network Marketing success, click the link above to try out a 2 week trial membership and get access to our private email support group **

Network Marketing | Where To Start?

Well you have probably read that The Money Gym has signed up with Success University and I’m going to be the main driver of this arm of our activities.  There are two goals – one is to see if Network Marketing works, and the second is to get our Money Gym materials to a wider audience and Success University has over 100,000 success hungry students in the UK alone.

I’m also going to keep a “warts and all” record of my network marketing journey so that any of you that are interested, can follow my progress and see if it “works”.

I’m very interested to see if it works!

Another income stream is always welcome but I’m not about to do anything I don’t feel comfortable about….so this attracted me because I can see that it could be built entirely online – I’m not about to start going to ra-ra kind of meetings all the time!

So why did we sign up?  It’s not like we haven’t got enough to do!

1.  We believe in network marketing intellectually, as a good vehicle for someone who has a job but hates it, to get started in the world of business.

2.  We can see it’s a good business model, being paid a little bit for the efforts of those you work with and help, not a million miles away from the affiliate marketing business model online.

3.  We like things where people can get started in building a business for a very low initial investment.

4.  We believe in personal development and positive thinking and network marketing tends to attract go-getting people

5.  I like the product – they have great overall content at and are adding more all the time.

6.  I like the person who gently and persistently encouraged me to join, never pushy, and want to help him “get out from the dark side” as we say in The Money Gym.

7.  I can see the potential for The Money Gym in getting our material in front of the Success University faculty.

So where do I start?

ACTION STEPS:

I signed up at Success University upgraded our account from the $2 offer and then recruited five others from my friends and family onto the $2 offer themselves – so far, so easy.

I then put a Success University badge on our blog and wrote a blog posting about it.  I’ve also set up a network marketing support group, for our Money Gym Gold & Silver members who might be into network marketing of any kind.  I know we have some Agel people and Telecom Plus people at least.

One person tried to click on the blog badge, but i’d changed the referral name subsequently, so even though I emailed her back to tell her, she doesn’t seem to have signed up. Also, we have now changed the blog theme and had to prune back on sidebar items.  The Success University badge seems to be one of those casualties.

Hmmmm, I can see this is not going to be as easy as I thought LOL

The first month passed (my friends and family’s $2 trial period) and I made it up the first level which is Counsellor.  I got an email confirming that and congratulating me.

I also got some phone calls from my “upline” as it’s called which was a bit disconcerting as I bloomin’ hate getting random phone calls.  At least it was on the office line, which is on answerphone most of the time.

I am getting lots of emails from various people and Success University itself, which have been going into a seperate folder ready for me to peruse at my leisure.  Today is “at my leisure”, so I’ll look at them now along which having a mooch around the site to see if I can puzzle out what to do next!

I could call the person who recruited me, but he’s a creative furness, and just comes up with more and more ideas, so I’ll leave that for now.

What I’m looking for is a practical step-by-step guide to building my Success University business online, not a step by step guide to building a great life!  I know how to do that LOL.

I’ll come back to you later and let you know if I found one!

** This post is sponsored by Success University.  If you want to join Nicola in her journey to Network Marketing success, click the link above to try out a 2 week trial membership and get access to our private email support group **

Money Gym Joins Success University!

I’m about to dip my toe (well, more like dive right in!) to a network marketing opportunity for the first time in years. Oooooooo, I can just hear the squeals of horror now!

I’ve long been aware that we, at the Money Gym, rather neglect this highly regarded but much  misunderstood part of the business lane of the wealth highway which Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump both say they would start with, if they had to start from scratch and make all their money again.

Judith has been getting well ensconced in the Cartel opportunity, which resonated with her because it helps folks get out of debt and recover a small bit from the financial institutions, and she’s loving that and building a great team underneath her.

I played with Hello World video mail a couple of years ago, but they screwed up when they made their site impenetrable and when I kept getting complaints that folks couldn’t view my emails.

But I have chosen one now – Success University

For the next year, I will only be working on this one opportunity alongside the Money Gym and the Next Level Programme with Brett.

To help me get off to a flying start and keep up the momentum, I’ve created a Money Gym Network Marketing Google group.

If you are a Silver or Gold Money Gym member you are welcome to join that Google Group for free (of course) to discuss your NM journey – whichever company you are with – your wins, your challenges, your opportunity even (but no “cut and paste” promotion though!)

To work with me in Success University, I’m also looking for 9-12 front line people who have

Particularly if your site/list is aimed at women or those interested in improving themselves, making money online and working from home.

Anyone who signs up under me will benefit from “spillover” from the Money Gym mailing list signups, as I won’t be able to place everyone directly under me, Steve and Judith, so will be placing extra people under those who sign up under me. Success University pays commissions on unlimited levels.

This would make a great first affiliate product for anyone with a website, particularly our new Membership Site Bootcamp people so I would welcome you guys with open arms.

$2 to get started and gain access to the materials, then $49 a month after that, and you can start earning. Then just put a banner on your blog / site sidebar and/or add a link to your email signature. Then you can go from there if you want to.

Check it out at

http://moneygym.successuniversity.com/specialoffer

I’m going along to meet the founder Matt Morris on Saturday if you want to join me for the day in London.

£1k For A Piece Of Caribbean Paradise?

Judith Morgan says: “Only £1,000 down for your own freehold little bit of Paradise in the Caribbean? Can this really be true? Or is it simply “Too Good To Be True”?

I have always wanted a life in the sun, so when one of our own ex-clients on the 2007 Money Gym Gold Express programme contacted me earlier in the year, I couldn’t wait to hear about the opportunity she presented.

At the time, I had challenges of my own – I was right in the middle of moving house in the same week as Janet Swift took me to a 3-day Alan Forrest Smith event and then I hurtled up to Manchester to find out all about Cartel, about which more later.

And to be honest with you, and I don’t think Victoria would mind my sharing this with you, when she brought it around to me, she hadn’t got her own head round the offering yet and so I simply didn’t understand it either and with all that busyness on my hands, I just parked it – a bit further down the To Do List! But I do remember calling Nicola and saying we must tell our clients about this. Nicola said “no, not now, let’s wait until someone we know and trust has invested their own money in it first” or word to that effect.

But Money Gym clients are not fools and so Victoria hedged her bets and she also showed it to Marcus de Maria AND Maria Davies. These days, Maria writes a regular column for “A Place in the Sun” magazine and so if Victoria could get past Maria’s defences, that would be a great result.

As Maria tells the story, Victoria badgered and badgered and badgered until Maria caved in and looked at the details and followed up on the opportunity in a way which I simply had not had time for.

And what did she discover? Maria discovered something so good she invested herself and she has now given up most, if not all, of her other speaking engagements just to present for this company. She is concentrating on them pretty much full-time and for the same reasons, it doesn’t just look too good to be true – it is true! And we want our clients to get a piece of that action!

With Maria’s “heads up” we have now all discovered something which, as I say, many will think too good to be true and indeed that may prove to be thei greatest marketing challenge!

So, what do they offer then, and how can you get your own freehold bit of Paradise in the Caribbean for only £1,000 down?

This company is a UK based developer, owned and run by one family, most of whom work in the business. Their Head Office is in Essex and I have been down there twice, once on my own to learn from a BBC geologist and oceanographer all about why their developments are no more likely to be hit by a hurricane than the south coast of England (!) and once with a carload of lovely Money Gym ladies.

We went to find out more, we went to grill the sales guy whose name, appropriately, is Sunny. We grilled the poor boy (and ticked him off about the state of the Ladies Loo to boot) for way more than two hours and he had the answers to all of our questions, literally at his fingertips. Sunny, rather worryingly (but affectionately I feel) now calls me “Trouble”.

Since then I have been once more to hang out in Essex. I have been to their Directors’ Box at the glamorous all-new Wembley Stadium where I met Katharine. Katharine is a Cambridge graduate who has worked for this company since she was 23; she’s now 26 and she is, quite frankly, the most brilliant presenter I have ever heard in all my years in the Money Gym.

There’s no fluff, she embodies the word succinct, thank heavens and she’s intelligent, intelligent, intelligent and posh (her hobby, nay passion, is Polo). And Katharine has created a lot of the business excellence which this company now display. Again, when answering questions, she quite easily and quickly put her hands on the answer to everything. Katharine is my new best friend in the Wonderful World of Wealth Creation.

God knows how or where the CEO recruited Katharine (she was head-hunted apparently) but he’s no fool. Together they are a brilliant business combination to my mind.

Sunny’s Mum works for the company. Katharine’s brother is her PA. It truly is a family business. Does that make it a better business? Not necessarily, but apart from Cartel, I haven’t found a business with greater or more infectious energy for a very long time. Victoria even took her singing sister into this company to work too.

So, let’s cut to the chase. Who are they and what’s in it for you?

A little piece of Paradise as I already said on terms which are literally too good to be true…..
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