Just as various sorts of business opportunities continue to sprout like mushrooms on a rainy day, so do misconceptions about network marketing abound practically everywhere.
Are you one of those people who get confused as to what network marketing is and what it is not? Let's have a clearer understanding of the concept and the practice by debunking some of the myths behind network marketing.
*MYTH NO. 1: Network Marketing is the same as the Pyramid Scheme.
**FACT NO. 1: Network Marketing is NOT a Pyramid Scheme.
Pyramid schemes are illegal, whereas network marketing is legal.
When you participate in a pyramid scheme, you shell out a certain amount of money for practically nothing. You get no goods or services in exchange for your precious money. Instead, you merely pay for luck or for a chance. Why? Because only the person or persons on top of the pyramid will win.
Practically a gambling scam, a pyramid scheme is merely a venue for transferring funds from the hands of one person to those of another.
In contrast, when you participate in network marketing, you are actually getting involved in a legal business system. In such set-up, real and legal products and/or services are distributed among huge networks of clients or buyers.
*MYTH NO. 2: Network Marketing is the same as the Ponzi Scheme.
**FACT NO. 2: Network Marketing is NOT a Ponzi Scheme.
First, what is a Ponzi scheme? A Ponzi scheme is an investment scheme named after Charles K. Ponzi, who operated such a financial scheme in 1919-1920. In the said scheme, the older members or investors receive their proceeds or profits completely from the funds invested by newer members.
Unlike the pyramid scheme, a Ponzi scheme does not necessarily follow a particular hierarchical system. In fact, only one person or company is in charge of collecting money from new investors. The said collecting agent or agency then uses such fund to award the older investors with the proceeds promised to them.
Thus, when you get involved in a Ponzi scheme, you are actually just helping the collecting agency to pay off the profits it has promised to the older investors. The organizers behind a Ponzi scheme make you believe that you will MAKE MONEY WITH THEM; however, the truth is that they are actually TAKING MONEY FROM YOU.
Clearly, network marketing is no way similar to a Ponzi scheme because just like in a pyramid scheme, no goods and services are involved in a Ponzi scheme.
*MYTH NO. 3: Network Marketing can make you rich in an instant.
**FACT NO. 3: Network Marketing is NOT a way to get rich in an instant.
If you think the promises offered to you by a certain business opportunity are too good to be true, then chances are they're really just that --- too good to be true!
True, earning and gaining wealth by getting involved in network marketing can be a faster, easier way --- but that is, if compared to traditional or conventional business methods.
Certainly, network marketing can help you become rich; however, you will still have to invest not just your money, but more importantly, your time, patience, and efforts. In general, you will have to wait for about five to seven years before you can really reap the fruits of your hard work.
*MYTH NO. 4: Network Marketing is so easy that even lazy people can derive abundant benefits from it.
**FACT NO. 4: Network Marketing is NOT for lazy people.
It is a common notion that network marketing is equivalent to easy money. Many people decide to jump into the network marketing bandwagon thinking that they can just look for a few contacts and then just relax and wait for the checks to arrive. Are they correct? Very far from it!
In fact, the most successful people in network marketing are those who work the hardest. Just like in any other business, in network marketing, the most industrious and diligent workers who toil the most also reap the most abundant of harvests.
If you want to be successful --- and rich, of course! --- in network marketing, you must be prepared to give it the best of your efforts.
*MYTH NO. 5: Network Marketing is only for salespeople.
**FACT NO. 5: Network Marketing is NOT just for people who have had experience or expertise in sales.
Although it would be to your great advantage if you have had prior sales experience, having none would not hinder you from getting into and succeeding in network marketing.
In this modern age, technologies such as the Internet and automated marketing system enable you to connect with the world and promote yourself and your products/services. What you really need is to fully understand the network marketing program that you are into, interact with as many people as possible, decide which ones would really be serious in this field, and, most importantly, make sure that they also fully comprehend the system that you all got involved with.
Indeed, you don't have to be a salesperson to be able to play the game that a decade ago was almost exclusively in the salesperson's court.
