If your are looking to supplement your wages and earn an extra income from home you will probably have encountered many companies offering network marketing as a means to start a home based business and make money.
Network marketing is what is more commonly called MLM or multi-level marketing. The word marketing needs no explaining, as you will all be aware that it simply means moving a service or product from the manufacturer to the consumer. Multi-level on the other hand is more about the system of compensation, and refers to the fact that there is more than one level.
Not so long ago some chain letters and illegal pyramids were classified in the same manner, as this type of business opportunity, which associated a great deal of shame, and has led to the newer multi-level marketing companies using a different name for their type of marketing, namely coop-mass marketing, uni-level and network marketing.
The reason pyramid sales are illegal is because they fail to provide a legitimate service or have a product to sell, consequently without a product you can not call it marketing, and therefore using pyramids to earn money is gaining it fraudulently.
Network marketing does not expect something for nothing, and is an ideal way of starting a home-based business, or to earn an extra income from home.
The difference between direct sales and network marketing is that with direct sales you are on your own whereas with network marketing you have your own home-based business, but are not by yourself. You also don’t have to sell in the traditional sense of the word, but rather build a network of distributors by interesting friends and neighbours in the product, who will then talk to their friends and neighbours.
With direct selling businesses, you work for them, and if you decide to move to another district, then you will usually have to give up your job and have to start all over again. You can take your network marketing business wherever you go, and new neighbours mean new potential.
It is not about knocking on doors and calling on strangers, but rather sharing the services or products with others. This type of business opportunity involves both sponsoring new distributors and teaching network marketing. As your organisation grows you build toward becoming a successful, independent businessperson, your own boss.
There is a vast difference between signing someone up and sponsoring them, as sponsoring is about a commitment to help the other person to build his own home-based business so that he succeeds and so do you. It is about building a team in which many distributors all retail a little to earn an extra income from home.
