For years, I have encouraged my readers and students to market programs and products that you love. Stuff WE are passionate about. Why?
It’s the best known way to stay with something long enough to survive the process – of learning how to market it and find the audience who’s looking for you. Because it usually takes longer than we hoped for the money to appear.
But there’s other approach: find what people want to buy, and give it to them.
While that sounds dumb simple, it isn’t, of course. First you have to find a niche where the buyers are rabid about buying the product and related items – e.g. surfboards, video games, exercise equipment, canaries, camera equipment, wellness products, online copy writing, paid surveys, you name it. Then, you have to figure out how to get them to buy it from YOU. It doesn’t even need to be your product. You can be a reseller (affiliate) for existing products
The other day, I offered readers two options to make money online: A way to make income with an extremely popular RISK offer here (under $100) and a way to make guaranteed income online with a big-selling NO RISK $-by-the-piece offer (under $40) (both have 60 day guarantees, so stop worrying. These are strange times and money comes from innovative places).
Both under $100. Both with big success.
Lots of buyers for both, although the no risk offer is ahead. Even though I don’t think most folks who do that will “love it” they are guaranteed income by-the-piece from home online. And many people are buying it right now.
What does this mean? Should we be seeking out genuine no-risk online opportunities, love it or not, in case the ‘maybe’ income from our on-the-come-businesses doesn’t come as soon as we need? That is, give people what they want, whether WE love it or not (assuming there’s the 60-day guarantee from a reputable place, like with these, of course.)
Do we (temporarily) – as sellers and doers – give up love for money right now?
Take the love or money? survey here and see what our community is saying. I will post the results later this week.
Hi Kim,
I was really intrigued with the MMM product so I did a little research. Seems there are lots of folks calling Mack Michaels a scammer; that he offered a very similar product under a name and actually changed his own name. I am new to this world – how do I know whom to trust?
You can never know whom to trust. Especially when you don’t know them. People all do things for their own reasons, not anyone else’s.
What you do is see if what’s being advertised sounds like something you’d like to do. Just like MLM, most people will not make money with a home based business. Remember 95% of MLMers quit, having lost money.
Does that make them all scams?
The key is to be able to get a refund. And with this, you can, within the first 60 days. Not from the creators of MMM (or the other option) but from the company that acts as the retailer for them.
So far there have been no refunds on these from people who have bought them here. But that is available to anyone who does.
And people get it a lot quicker – within a week of requesting it – than refunds for their NM purchases – in most cases. Plus there are no set-offs.
So test it and see.
If it sounds interesting to you. There are SO many programs like this, and this just happens to be very popular.
So I offered it as an example.
🙂
As it didn’t get published when I sent it days back, I’ll resubmit this… heck, I’d not like to be left out.
Given the contact we’ve had in recent years, posting this brings me no pleasure.
And, that I choose to do so publicly, rather than private email, reflects the respect I have for you.
Moreover, I’ll be genuinely surprised if I’m alone in my view…
When I saw the original piece, I was surprised at the links therein. This repeat confirms my view that you’re sending folk down a blind alley.
The old phase of ‘If it sounds too good to be true…’ comes readily to mind.
Honestly, (and if anyone gets offended at the use of the correct term here, that’s life…) they’re shit. The presentations are not how good people do business.
Maybe the few bucks you make on afilliate deals are worth the loss of cred. Personally, I don’t think so.
🙂
I did try MMM (not sure who it was through) and felt there was some solid info and I learned new things, but not enough for the monthly cost and no personal attention as was advertized. I requested the refund and got it promptly, no questions asked, so still think highly of him.
Michelle Porter
Michelle –
Good you tried them and got a taste.
Like any other of such business opps, different people have different reactions.
The fact that there is no problem with refunds speaks well of them, and the fact that most people do not request them keeps the retailer offering the program.
Thanks.
g–
always a pleasure, my man. Re “The old phase of ‘If it sounds too good to be true…’ comes readily to mind.”
That’s what most everyone has said and continues to say about the network marketing business. And with the 95% drop out rate, there is some evidence to support that the dreams being sold are much harder for someone to to attain than they are for someone to sell.
The no-risk option there, the survey offer, has no “too good to be true” I can see. It’s pay for piece work, by the piece.
Granted not glam like NM big money, but not offered for that purpose. No different than copywriting or doing any other piece work on a computer from home. To support someone’s NM habit, or to just bring some for sure money in the door.
As to their description as ‘sh*t’ I guess for every opportunity there will be some who say that, and others who have done well with it.
Some say NM is “icky” and worse. Depending on the offer and the person’s situation and personal style, it will help them or not.
One person’s ‘sh*t’ is another’s source of income and support.
The fact that the company offers money-back guarantees protects those who feel they got ‘sh*t’ although not a single person who has gotten either of these programs due to my offering them has asked for a refund.
Nothing I ever recommend sits well with ALL my readers. But it’s very timely for some, and there are many different opportunities in this trying time so I’ll continue to offer things that have helped others who want to try different ways to make ends meet – and still do it from home.
As always, nice to hear from ya.
>As always, nice to hear from ya.
Indeed, and you know I enjoy the interchange.
My gripe with those pages is the presentation – which is not dis-similar to a lot of NM stuff in which fact is subordinated to the fiction upon which fantasy is fueled.
It's more of the 'He told me how I could make a fortune by using just a few of his amazing strategies and how after a few months I’d be sitting pool-side counting my mountain of cash.' stuff.
My counter to that is one 'And you believed it?'
On the issue of 'To support someone's NM habit'… well, call me old-fashioned, but to me that's best done by making people more aware of the realities of the business, and better able to deal with 'em through becoming better skilled/more experienced.
That's something you've done quite well. And, whilst some of it may at times be a tad too simplistic and canned for my personal tastes, much of it works far better than the majority of the current NM canon which is waaaaaaay out-dated and was never that effective anyway.
It's upon that you've built your reputation. As Tom (Peters) would say: 'Stick to the knitting.'
There's a real need (and place for) Practical Network Marketing [hhhmmmm… now there's a name for a domain ;-)], not sidetracking into distractions. Heck, what next… links to Frank Kern stuff?
And here's a double-smiley to end.
🙂 😉
Hi g:
re this:
“On the issue of ‘To support someone’s NM habit’… well, call me old-fashioned, but to me that’s best done by making people more aware of the realities of the business, and better able to deal with ’em through becoming better skilled/more experienced.”
It is of course ideal to improve ones’s skill set, trouble is most folks cannot afford to do that with no income coming in. Actually, with more going out for events, meetings, leads, etc. than is coming in. So piece work from home, with no risk, like the surveys or copywriting, offers a way to keep some income coming in during the learning process, which may take 6-12 months.
I don’t have a quick way to earn income in NM to teach – that is guaranteed. Doing customers is much more likely to succeed than recruiting, because of the numbers only. 1/100 want to sell. Everyone’s a customer of something.
But the methods are still not guaranteed, which is why I nosed around for stuff that IS guaranteed that can be cone from home, online.
Yes, I agree the presentation and copy is pretty ugly and low class. Everything I hate.
But I can’t control what others do, and folks in NM and other business opps online are used to that sort of screamy style by now. I warn folks to avert their eyes, just check out what they need to do to earn income.
Speaking of online income that is for certain, I just put out a job request on one of the websites asking for someone to write up a review of 4 of these types of sites…so I’ll be paying someone a guaranteed amount for that.
So it’s not my knitting, I know. But it seems to be helping folks who cannot wait for their income to catch up with their learning process.
But they don’t want to give up their NM businesses. Despite the big promises they were sold.
Sigh.
Kim,
My answer to your question: Should we market programs and products that we love? Sure, if there is enough of a market for it.
I love my company’s eco-friendly cleaning products. However, there appears to be no market for them. I’ve approached hundreds of people using the First Date Script. Very few sales…most people said that they are happy with what’s available in the store (especially if they are big-box-store shoppers), and my products offer no advantages in terms of price, performance, service or anything else. At least enough to get them to change their buying habits.
Now that I switched to marketing my company’s nutritional products my sales have greatly increased. So there is obviously a much stronger market and the products are compelling enough for people to want to buy them. I care about health and nutrition so I feel good about helping people with these products. But if you asked me which category I prefer, I would say I’m more passionate about cleaning.
In this case, I guess it’s find what people want to buy and give it to them. Perhaps the key is to become aware of trends and market conditions. Could also be geographical – what sells in one area may not be as marketable in another.
More to your point about the way in which products are marketed: look at the success of TV infomercials and annoying spokespeople like that guy with the beard! Personally the “screaming” approach is a turn-off. But it must work because so many people are doing it.
Should we NM’ers adapt to trends in marketing, both in terms of products and methods? Or should we stay true to what is important to us even if the vast majority are doing something else (meaning there may be very few people who feel the same way for us to sustain a viable business)?