April 3, 2009
by Paul Kemp

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Sales professionals in most areas of the American economy - except for military equipment and perhaps pharmaeutical drugs - are being laid off by the millions.  Where shall they look for opportunity?
 
Of those Americans still employed, 44% are directly or indirectly working for the government at some level.
 
Enlistments are up for the National Guard, with many joining out of desperation for money to pay their bills.  Clearer heads will realize they won't be protecting our nation by serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
Recent articles in the news highlight the difficulties in a shrinking job market for young people to get their first job when they're competing with would-be retirees who have been forced back into working entry level jobs.
 
Shall we trust the federal government to craft a plan to get us all back to work somehow, or shall we find our own free-market way?
 
I'd like to suggest that the way that we choose to promote economic recovery will determine the future of this country - and this will affect the world's direction, too.
 
There are essentially two directions we can go here: we can yield more of our decisions to the brilliant people in government or we can get back to making our own desision based on what we know and see.
 
Those who think for themselves and have even a rudimentary knowledge of our recent history will remember that the "brilliant" Ivy League grads now running the Treasury Department were recently employed by Goldman-Sachs and other Wall Street firms whose crazy speculations and sophistry created the economic problems we face.  Putting the foxes in charge of guarding the henhouse has never seemed a wise policy, has it?  So why take your cues from the clueless and self-dealing grifters who gravitate to federal moneypots? 

Now I doubt that we can change the course of the country, but we all need to consider where our best bets for finding new opportunities lie.  And sometimes those opportunities may be found where we haven't looked before.
 
There is one area of the marketplace that is growing, as it always does in recessions, and that is direct selling, otherwise known as network marketing.
 
Many people of conventional mindset will recoil from the above suggestion because of what they think they know about network marketing.  That may cause them to choose something considered "sensible" for future employment, such as joining the National Guard or some other form of government-created employment.
 
Economist and self-made millionaire Paul Zane Pilzer has written extensively on the field of direct selling.  In his book "The New Wellness Revolution" he states that U.S. direct sales more than doubled in the decade prior to 2005, for a '05 total of more than $30 billion.  Worldwide sales of direct selling companies are nearly $100 billion.
 
Many new and improved products and services can only be cost-effectively sold on a person-to-person basis.  This can best be facilitated through use of the Internet, reaching thousands of seekers of information at a time.
 
For instance, did you know that inexpensive long distance phone services were first marketed to the public through network marketing after the breakup of AT&T's monopoly?  Millionaires were made in pioneer Excel Communications and MCI - and the general public learned of a fantastic new service.
 
And, by the way, we're not talking about door-to-door sales or doing home parties and livingroom presentations.  The significant incomes are found by those who set themselves up on the 'Net to be found by those looking for solutions to their physical needs or income needs.  The company handles all the distribution.
 
Pilzer unequivocally states, "...teaching consumers about such products and services - intellectual distribution - is the greatest entrepreneurial opportunity now and for the foreseeable future."
 
Warren Buffet, a smart businessman who has a long track record of success, has bought into a network marketing company, calling it one of his best investments.  What does he know that most of us don't?
 
We know that some people are making money in network marketing, some of them a LOT of money, but we also know that there is a dropout rate for new owners of network marketing businesses of an average of 97%.  So, something is wrong in this picture.  Let's figure out what it is.
 
I recently came acrosss a book about the MLM industry that argues that there are a number of false claims made in the selling of network marketing to the average person.  The most egregious white lie is that network marketing is not "selling"; and just behind this whopper is the notion that "anyone can succeed" in this business.
 
Just these two assertions could explain the high failure or dropout rate.  They might also explain the bad taste the industry leaves in the mouths of the many who have tried it at some point - about 19% of the U.S. population, as I recall.

(Article Continues Below)

A lot of the problem the public has with network marketing comes from the fact that never before has a business opportunity been sold to the average sales-averse person with little familiarity with how to evaluate a business in the first place. 
 
So, by glossing over the fact that this is a business requiring some sales skills, MLM leaders are setting up these bright-eyed new business owners for failure and bitterness when they discover the deception.  This is shortsighted on the part of the professional marketers who have perpetuated this practice because it guarantees massive turnover and little of the duplication that is necessary for this to be more than a minimum wage job. 

So, to sum up:
 
* Network marketing in general is growing now as millions of people take to the Internet to find a replacement for their lost income.
 
* Network marketing is NOT for everyone, but it can be fantastic for those suited to business ownership.
 
* Some companies are doing better than others, so a thorough "due diligence" evaluation of the saleability of the products, the quality of the management, the marketing strategy, and the financial soundness of the company must be done before one enrolls as a distributor.
 
* The old-fashioned marketing plans of most MLM companies should be ignored and modern methods of using the Internet implemented to attract qualified business professionals to take a look at the opportunity one chooses.
 
* It's time to move on from the fallacies perpetuated for fifty-plus years about this promising business model - "Make a list of everyone you know and schedule a presentation." - and put the 'Net to work sorting through the millions of alleged prospects to find your few thousand who will appreciate the opportunity for what it is and run with it.
 
* Sales professionals and other entrepreneurs shouldn't be put off by the past failings of this industry.  Choose a good company to distribute for by using Alexa.com to see if their potential market is growing or shrinking.  Put up your own Web site marketing yourself as the leader to follow and use attraction marketing techniques to find some of the experienced sales pro's who are looking for something that's selling, then get to work moving good products that people are want to purchase. 

* For those not yet laid off, network marketing via the Internet is a good Plan B to develop in their spare time.
 
* Let's remember that - even in a depressed economy - some products are still selling, such as personal care items, nutritional supplements (which often relieve the discomforts of ageing more effectively than expensive pharmaceuticals), and green household cleaning products.  At the same time, there are people like yourself perhaps in the market for a small business opportunity selling something.  Put the manufacturer in touch with customers and other marketers and you get a commission.  That's what selling's all about isn't it?
 
I offer these thoughts in the hopes they may encourage the growth of self-employment as the antidote to a paternalistic government that causes our economic problems and then offers solutions that will only make the problems worse. 
 
This country needs more entrepreneurs, not more federal employees.  Start a countertrend!  The federally managed, funny-money, war exporting economy isn't working.
 
Let's do something about it by promoting free enterprise of useful products.  And let's do it ethically, with "truth in advertising" as a guiding principle.
 
For more information on the revolution in direct sales and network marketing, along with a number of free resources for your use, visit my blog: http://mlm4freedom.blogspot.com/

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Paul Kemp awoke to the realities of American politics as a Conscientious Objector and war resister during the Vietnam era.  He is an entrepreneur and writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest. He welcomes feedback through his website, http://defending-your-retirement.blogspot.com/. 

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