The One Bite At a Time Principle
On of the best ways to become financially free is to have
residual income coming in from several sources.
Perhaps easier said then done. You hear it all the time, "I
can't afford to join a whole bunch of companies now" or "It's to
hard to promote several companies at once".
Remember the old riddle about how do you eat an elephant. You
know the answer, "one bite at a time."
Lets use the one bite at a time principle to create multiple
streams of residual income. We will use network marketing
companies to do so.
Residual income is income that you create once, and then it
keeps coming to you on a regular basis. It is a way you can
leverage your time and investment. You work to build the income,
which takes marketing time. It may take a monetary investment,
depending on whether you are using free or paid marketing
methods.
Here we are defining network marketing companies as those
programs that have a monthly cost on which they pay a monthly
commission. It is this monthly commission that will provide you
with long term residual income.
Affiliate programs are not the same. They are usually a one time
sale. Some do offer multiple products, but you cannot count on
continued sales for residual income.
This is not to say that you can't make money with affiliate
programs. You can make money with them. They just don't fit real
well with the one bite at a time principle.
Most network marketing companies pay their highest percents on
the lower levels, like levels five and lower. They pay quite low
percents on levels one and two. They justify this by saying you
have very few members on level one and two and a great many
(eventually) on the lower levels, so their program is maximizing
your income. That might well be true, but only after you have
built a very large organization. That could take months or
years.
Other network marketing companies pay a high percentage on level
one or two. Their philosophy is to help you get a decent check
fairly soon. A few pay around 33% of the selling price on level
one. If you receive 33% for everyone on your first level you
will be breaking even with just three members on your first
level.
These are hard to find, however they are out there. Check out
the company as best you can. Check if the product or service has
real value. If it looks good, then join it. Your goal is to
recruit enough members so that you are breaking even.
If you are on a tight budget, don't worry about anything except
your first company. Just promote it until you are breaking even.
Use your favorite marketing method(s) to introduce people to
your program. I'm not going to go into the different marketing
methods in this article, however I have addressed this subject
in some of my other articles. You can read them at
http://www.the-home-business-center.com/articles.php.
When you are at break even in your first program you need to do
three things.
First is to continue to promote the program. From here on out
any new people will put you into profit, and you are on your way
to building a residual income in that company.
Second, you need to work with the people that you have
sponsored. Let them know what you are doing to sponsor members.
Answer questions they have, or pass the questions on to your up
line if necessary. Support your people to the best of your
ability. You cannot be truly successful without them also being
successful. (Really, you should be doing this starting as soon
as a new member joins.)
Third, start looking for your next company. It should meet the
same criteria as your first company. When you find it, go and
join it. Then, add it to your marketing promotions. So now you
are marketing two programs. It should be easier to start
marketing this second program, as you will have more marketing
experience then when you first started.
When you are at break even, start the process over again. Keep
doing it until you have five or six programs in which you are
making money. By the time you have the fifth program working
good you should be making a fair income on the first programs.
Five or six programs are a good number to stop and stay with. At
this point devote your time to supporting these programs and
youre down line in them. Continue to study marketing. When you
find something that works good pass it along to your down line.
You have now established several residual income streams. You
did it with a fairly small investment. And is not hard to
support the various programs because you built up to where you
are gradually. You did it all one bite at a time.