Thursday June 26, 2014
By NISHA
You’ve heard it being called different names before: Direct selling, multi-level marketing (MLM), pyramid selling, and recently, network marketing. But thanks to opportunists, phony pyramid schemes, and pushy friends-turn-salesmen, they’ve gotten a name for themselves that has stuck on till today.
But in reality, if you take this marketing model and strip it off its elements of potential human manipulation, what you really have is a solid business plan, like everything else out there. Except for the fact that, with network marketing, you’ll have the chance to reap what you sow with near immediate effect.
So, what is network marketing? Basically, the concept involves an individual making his or her profit by selling a specific range of products that are not available in regular consumer stores, to someone whom is approached directly.
Those who purchase the products have an option to also start their own reselling business, thus forming a down-line. Once this happens, the individual originally selling the products will also make some portion of the profits from his direct customer’s customers.
There are many perks of running a network marketing business. In fact, whether you’re an experienced worker, a business owner, or a fresh graduate, if conducted the right way, network marketing businesses are suitable to any section of society that is looking to have a flexible career lifestyle.
Here, myStarjob.com sits down with a few local and global representatives of Forever Living Products Malaysia, a network marketing business with their primary product being their pure aloe Vera extract, to have a chat about some of the reasons why network marketing would be an attractive approach to those looking for a flexible lifestyle.
Be free of those financial burdens
The nature of network marketing is such, that once you have established yourself in the industry, your results will be growing exponentially, without it necessarily being your direct effort.
This means that the revenue per time ratio is high, giving you the freedom to engage in other businesses in the background, or relax and enjoy the journey you’ve created for yourself.
“The reason my father, Rex Maughan founded Forever Living Products, is because during his time at a successful real-estate company, he faced a lot of people in financial debt coming to him for help. At the same time, he was introduced to the multi-level-marketing concept and thought that this, could be the answer to giving everyone the financial freedom they need,” Gregg Maughan, president of Forever Living Products.
A healthier lifestyle
Many network marketing products are centralised around a variety of health benefits, which is usually their unique selling point. So, not only will you be experiencing a financially stable life, you’ll also be able to enjoy a healthier way of living from one aspect or the other.
In Forever Living Products, their number one selling item is their pure Aloe Vera gel, which their users have used and experienced personal health improvement. Apart from helping you to look better and feel better, some have even described having higher energy levels when consuming it regularly as a supplement.
“You can feel the difference when you take the products. You wake up feeling fresher, relaxed, and more energetic. Even the cosmetics range are better than all the big branded names that I’ve tried before” –Kati Gidofalvi, consumer and highly successful distributor of Forever Living Product from Hungary.
Low investment
One of the major concerns of starting any kind of business is the financial aspect. Start-ups need big capital, and their success is not guaranteed in most cases. This makes it a big risk. Network marketing on the other hand, does not require any large amount of capital, as you are merely buying and reselling the products as your customers need them.
“I own a franchise of a popular bike brand, and in the whole of Eastern Europe, I have the fourth biggest sales volume in this brand. But this multi-level-marketing is the best method. Because here, your income depends on what you do.Whereas in traditional businesses, such as this bike brand, your income depends on the customers. Even the investment that you put in is much less than traditional businesses,” – Atila Gidofalvi, consumer and highly successful distributor of Forever Living Products
The luxury of time
They say that lost time is never found again. Pursuing a career may be rewarding for some, but it leaves you with a very limited time on your hands to pursue other areas of life that can be equally as rewarding.
With network marketing, however, the initial push might take up about an equal amount of time as any other regular job, but once you’ve established a solid down-line, you pretty much can lean back and let your passive income roll in if you want to.
This means, you can enjoy your leisurely time doing whatever you would like to, whether it is starting up another business, giving back to society through charity and voluntary work, picking up a new skill, or travelling. All these activities do not only need money – they need time too.
Atila Gidofalvi, distributor of Forever Living Products
Support and guidance is provided for newcomers
You might think that to be good at network marketing, you would need to have the natural talent of a salesman; that you’ll turn into one of those people who swoops in on every member of their friends and family, and start badgering them to buy your products. You might think so, but this is not the case.
Network marketing businesses want you to succeed in your undertakings. Most of them provide their members with training modules on how to present the products, thus slowly building the confidence level of any one person.
And as for the ‘badgering’ part, here’s what Atila had to say about it:
“I don’t approach the people who I don’t feel are interested in the business. I wait for people to approach me. When they say ‘hey, how are you, you look so much better!’, then I’d tell them about the products I’ve been using. If they’re receptive, I’ll show them the marketing plan. Otherwise, I’ll leave it. Simple.”
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From left: CG Tan, managing director of Forever Living Products Malaysia; Atila & Kati Gidofalvi; Gregg Maughan; and Aidan O'hare, vice president of Europe.
The bottom line is, if you’re looking for relatively quick financial freedom, while having a surplus of time on your hands, with the added benefit of looking and feeling great, you might want to give network marketing a go. So once you're ready, head over to the Forever Living Products Malaysia website to start your journey.