Network Marketing

I came to this conclusion after doing some research on network marketing. It isn't for everyone and it's not going to make everyone millions of dollars. BUT, it is right for me and I can live on a lot less than million dollars a year.

It's the same as any other business. There are investments (usually a lot less than traditional franchises, I know), it's something you have to work on and there are risks.

As most of you know, I've been a franchisee myself and I'm comparing my coffee business to the sandwich business I used to have. My franchise fee alone was $15K, not to mention the building I had to lease, inventory, equipment, insurance, phone lines, internet, cost of hiring and training, marketing material, on and on and on...

You would think that investing that much money in a business, at least it could be easier. I've been kicked out of many parking lots for putting flyers on the cars, escorted out from buildings for soliciting and banned from many people from sending them faxes or emails. It was hard work. Just to sell a $2 sandwich.

Do you remember the snow storm in 2002? I owned three restaurants by then. One of them got taped off because the roof might have caved in due to the weight of the snow. All my inventory went bad. Nobody was eating cold cut sandwiches (I think everyone else got snow days). One of my managers stole the money out of the safe (he was going to return it before anyone found out...he didn't) And at the end of all of this, I still owed rent on all three leases.

What I'm saying is, business...it isn't easy. Just like everything else, you have to work at it. Rejection is part of business. Grow some skin and get back out there. All those rags to riches stories, they worked at it, too. It's your business, work at it. Make it yours. Make it happen. Become a success story. I'm looking forward to it.