Are You Treating Your Home-based Business like a Business?

Does your business have the potential to become a multi-million dollar enterprise? How are you doing in projecting, developing, and maintaining that goal? I believe that most people in MLM have no clue where their business volume is right this second. Granted, not every company has 24/7 tracking systems that make such monitoring easy, but, even when they do, most distributors are very haphazard in following what is transpiring with their businesses.

Therefore, I would like to share with you my tips for treating your home business like a business for greater profitability and momentum. I will use traditional business as a model. A traditional business must know exactly where it is in the overall state of income vs. outgo and supplies and personnel vs. demand. Take a restaurant, for example. Is it very likely that a restaurant can keep its doors open and/or make sure you avoid botulism if the manager doesn't know how many people generally order what and how long those supplies have been on hand . . . or on the salad bar?

For those of us in MLM, our ordering chores are a lot easier, particularly if our companies have drop shipping to retail customers. Nevertheless, we all need to know what is hot and what is not . . . and even what products management is on the verge of discontinuing. Some years ago, I caught wind of the fact that my company was going to discontinue a poorly selling product that I particularly loved. I immediately called the warehouse and bought every bottle in stock, thus assuring myself of a longer supply.

Sometimes, because of rapid company growth, a product is such a hot seller that your company will find itself in backorder situations. How important would it be for you to stay a little overstocked on that product so that you can service your organization when the warehouse can't service it?

How important is it for you to track income vs. outgo? Would you like to be able to predict accurately whether you will be able to continue making that car lease payment before you make a monthly commitment for the next 5 years? Speaking of time . . . exactly how do you set your calendar? That traditional business model has a "30-day, 6 months, 1-5 year, and possibly beyond" business model. Are you clear on how to set your scheduling priorities so that you do the highest yield activities first, and do you have a vision of where you are taking your business over the next 5 years?

Do you have a never-ending stream of prospects to work with? Are you methodically following up with those leads? Do you have systems that move people through business training rather than simply relying on talent?

Are you putting some money into growing your business? A traditional business normally needs a steady stream of advertising, or at the very least, a consistent method for rewarding referrals. The people that I meet who are too cheap to fund business expansion, travel, or tools of the trade (books, tapes, trainings), yet bemoan flat sales and lack of income momentum, never cease to amaze me.

Speaking of spending money on tools and trainings, I can't think of anything that has yielded my husband, Taylor, and me better dividends consistently than investing in ourselves. I will boldly state that we have become multi-millionaires in MLM because we have "become" but from a personal development standpoint.

We didn't start out industry superstars . . . that's for sure. Taylor joined MLM in 1982 and enjoyed some big initial success before falling into several years of frustrating experiences (company failures, personal production disappointments, miscalculations based on lack of experience). Having come from Chester, MS (population 75), he obviously had no great local business models.

I joined MLM in 1982, also becoming a recruiting phenomenon immediately, but one who couldn't make more that $342 a month for the first four years. I certainly didn't know what I didn't know. Then, my most intriguing personality was someone like Cher or Elvis. Now, my most intriguing personality is someone like Mark Cuban or Bill Gates. I grew up in the little town of Escalon, CA, with a population of 3,000 people. I spent 18 years as a teacher/counselor there before I got the courage up to go fulltime in MLM.

Taylor and I had to mature in this industry, and you will find that your business will grow when you do. Even if you experience phenomenal beginner's luck in your MLM career, your lack of experience will slow your business down unless you short circuit your way to MLM savvy through mentoring and masterminding.

I want to encourage you to treat your business just as if it had cost you $500,000 or more to acquire. Get some guidance in properly structuring your management and your resources --- and get yourself on a fast track for success. You are president of your own company, and that company has the potential to be worth millions someday.

We are in a thrilling profession, but it is critical for you to plug into the right support system so that you do not hit the wall from making poor judgment errors. Literally hundreds of thousands of people have given up on the industry instead of looking in the mirror and recognizing the true source of the problem. It is never a wrong move to make the right move.

Take an inventory of your business right now . . . and take steps to fulfill its multi-million dollar enterprise potential.