Social Networking For Business

Who else is really making money around here, besides the Video Stars I talked about in the last post.

It’s the product creators.

They aren’t all Network Marketers, but the Network Marketers have started getting in on the game.

That’s not really anything new, when I first started out, my sponsor had his own courses, the other top guys in that company and most other companies also sold tapes, books, courses, etc. They were doing this long before the Internet. Most of the time though, Network Marketers create products for their own company or downline, to make some extra money and to get leads that they can turn into downline members.

The difference is why that do it and how they do it, not that they do it at all. Plus, in the past, you had to actually be a top Network Marketer, one of the top earners in your company and well known for it before you could even consider selling your own products.

Now a days, anyone can do it and no one really knows if they’ve ever built a downline or not, no one really knows if they are making any money or not, but that’s one of the problems with this business online anyway, same goes for affiliate marketers selling products, you don’t know if they have ever made any money doing anything but selling their courses.

I’ve always had an issue with some guy saying he’s making $100,000 a month and he’s going to show me how he does it for $37 bucks. I’m calling bullshit on that every time.

Now, you do have guys like Eben Pagan (Brilliant), Jeff Johnson (Gives away more free info than most people sell) & Frank Kern (the coolest dude online), selling products at much higher price points, this makes more sense to me, if Eben is selling something for $2000 bucks, it’s a fair deal, you will get value and he gets a nice amount for his product.

The Network Marketers, not to be left out, have come out with their own products in the same way, they sell them the same way, they have affiliate programs attached to them, they do the contests, they do the videos, sales pages, etc. It’s not just some top guy in a company selling books and tapes to the rest of the members in that company, they don’t care who buys, they aren’t trying to sign up everyone they sell to into their company, although this happens by default anyway, they are selling a product, making money doing that and that’s really that.

Historically, Network Marketers have been very guarded with their training, information, who they spend their time with, who they will even talk to and their lists. They would never send out an eMail promoting another Network Marketer or another Network Marketers product, same difference really, they would never do free training for anyone that wanted to watch the video, if you wanted their training, any time with them at all, you had to sign up in their organization.

That way of thinking is long gone, the affiliate marketers have shown that sharing their lists is a good thing, everyone is on everyone’s list anyway, the Internet has turned everyone into a customer, no matter if they identify as Internet Marketers, Network Marketers or Affiliate Marketers, they are all just customers to the guys selling the products. The Network Marketers jump from company to company so fast now a days that they really are just customers aren’t they? They don’t stay long enough to be attached to that company or considered anyone’s downline member.

I remember the drama we used to have because some guy left one company to go to another, or one persons downline to go to another persons downline, in the same company. It was a big deal. Not anymore, now everyone just jumps around, whose got the best system, whose giving away the most perks, whose paying my way in, there they go, no one cares.

The affiliate marketers have also shown that it’s better to sell your products through an affiliate program, like I said, this would not have worked in the Network Marketing arena 10 years ago, not even 5 years ago. The only people that would be affiliates for a network marketers products were people in their downline and the main reason they were affiliates was not to make money, it was to get leads that they could sign up into their business.

A great example is; Jonathan Budd is now a top Network Marketer, he’s also a top Affiliate Marketer. He became well known as an Affiliate Marketer by winning Mike Dillards contest for one of his products. As far as I know, these guys are not in the same Network Marketing company, yet, they promote each others products/services. Many people actually promote their products, it has nothing to do with downline culture anymore, it’s about making money.

This would not have been done a few years ago. The mind set has changed.

Just to point out, Joe Schroeder is the first Network Marketer I know of that sold products using an affiliate program. Like I said though, back then, only his people were selling his products and everyone that purchased a product was then pitched into the network marketing company. This is the original version of the funded proposal.

Guys like Jonathan Budd and Mike Dillard are making boat loads of cash and it has nothing to do with their network marketing check. They create products that teach you how to build your network marketing check, but what you really should be thinking is, how are these guys really making most of their money.

Network Marketing or product creation.

Those two guys have obviously made fortunes in Network Marketing and still do, but I will say that they are the exception. Others have made money in Network Marketing, they realize how unstable it is, how hard it is to keep going and they use the name recognition they got when they were on top of the industry to sell their products, look at the retired guys that have well known names but no downlines anymore, they are retired after all, still doing training, consulting, creating and selling products, live shows, etc. Why is anyone buying anything from them, they retired, they aren’t up to date, they can teach mind set and intangibles but they really can’t teach marketing, the way we market online changes so fast, anyone who has been out of the business for 6 months is way behind and out of the loop.

So, whose really making money around here? The Network Marketers that have merged Network Marketing and Affiliate Marketing into one. Even if they don’t have their own products, many of them will promote the products created by others, in order to create more income, the Internet has changed are mind set on income in general, we don’t care where it comes from, who writes the check is irrelevant, money is money and there are so many different ways to make it online that the downline we may build in a network marketing company is just a small part of the overall business model.

Just look at this blog, some of the ads on this blog have nothing to do with business at all, but if someone decides to buy P90X after clicking the banner up top, I get a check. Do I care that the check didn’t come from a network marketing company or that it didn’t come from an affiliate product geared towards Internet Marketing? Not even a little. My bank doesn’t care either.

I have another blog about Marriage, I have another one about Fantasy Football, I have a social network that has nothing at all to do with Internet Marketing, Home Businesses, etc. it’s a completely separate revenue stream, they all are.

I should mention that the people really making the money around here also are the company owners, membership site owners, system owners, autoresponder owners, all of the people selling us the tools we need or think we need to succeed.

I have always owned my own programs, since 2000 I’ve been creating stuff, most very small compared to the big network marketing companies, but I’ve made more money from them then I did being a distributor for any particular company. Actually, if you combine the money I’ve earned owning my own membership sites, I call them membership sites because they vary greatly so membership sites is just easier, combine that income and compare it to the income I’ve made being in all of the other companies I’ve been involved with, mind you, it’s a bunch of them, the income isn’t even close.

Just a quick example:

Wowzza made me a small fortune (Six Figures) in a few months.
MyCapturePage was pulling in 25K a month for a year, that’s an average for that year.
Just8Bucks did 9K a month for about 18 months.
Pro-List, the second paid list builder online, a little pat on the back for that one, had 6,000 members sign up at $25 bucks a pop, over a few years.

There were others, my passion is creating, that’s just what I do.

It’s unfortunate that they didn’t last and none turned into the next Giblink or Xango, but I blame the flaky Internet mind set, makes me feel better.

You can’t touch that income with your network marketing check and you know it, neither can I so don’t worry about it.

The simple conclusion to this very long post is this:

Don’t do what the people making money say to do. Do what they do.

That’s the solution. I could have just put that at the top and saved you some time right. I know.

Do what they do:

Create your own social network, membership site, marketing system, training product.

Start out small with an ebook.

Start out small with a free social network.

Get yourself name branded.

Do something impressive that gives you credibility.

Create, Sell, Sign Up.

Build a downline, sell a product, sell a system.

It’s easy now a days since you can hire programmers, designers, buy software, even pay someone else to write for you.

Do something extraordinary.

Create many streams of income.

Get rich, retire, get richer telling everyone how you got rich.

That’s it for now, thank you for stopping by.

Have Fun,
Jim Vigilante
Professional Multi-Income Generator