The Professional Chef |

In a recent article I outlined two alternative and somewhat adventurous ways that small business owners are bring cash into their businesses, even in this cash-poor economy: factoring and creating multiple streams of income.

Factoring is a way for small businesses to generate cash by selling their accounts receivables for up-front cash. Creating multiple streams can take many forms, including creating educational webinars, websites, and DVDs. Each of these options has pros and cons, and each of these can increase a small business’ cash flow if implemented right.

Now I’m going to introduce a third option that is enticing many small business owners as a viable new income stream: MLM, also known as multi-level marketing or network marketing.

Why MLM and Why Now?
Many small business owners who had previously shunned the MLM industry are now joining in significant numbers. The question is, why now? Small business owners are habitually busy, so it doesn’t make sense that they would add another business to their already overloaded schedule. Yet they are, and for good reason.

1. MLM is Supported by Capitalist Big Wigs
Did you know that investing guru Warren Buffett owns several MLM companies, including Pampered Chef? Did you know that best-selling authors and well-known businessmen Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump wrote a book supporting this industry? In fact, Donald Trump believes in it so much he recently launched his own MLM company. The MLM industry, formerly the king of scams and schemes, has grown up and become a solid business proposition.

2. When Cash is Tight, MLM is Inexpensive
In this cash-poor economy, an MLM business has one of the lowest startup costs and overhead of any business. Rather than buying a franchise or investing in other companies, many small business owners are joining MLMs and operating these businesses in their homes, which keeps the overhead low and increases their tax advantages. On average, small business owners are spending $350 to $500 to start their businesses, and roughly $200 to $400 per month the run it. Although it may not produce income right away, most who consistently work their business earn a passive income, over and above their expenses, within 6 months to 2 years.

In this economy every penny counts so even a small income stream will pay off. Did you know that last year 91% of foreclosures could have been prevented with $500 additional income per month? Plus, according to Dun and Bradstreet, 95% of all businesses close because of lack of cash. Many small business owners are realizing that investing in an MLM business is a smart investment for the near future.

3. MLM Helps You Claim Additional Tax Advantages
Sometimes cash comes not in the form of greenbacks, but in the form of taxes that you or your business don’t have to pay. Most small business owners are in a catch-22 when it comes to taxes. They are damned if they make a profit, and damned if they don’t. For instance, one shopkeeper earned a good profit one year, but ended up paying huge taxes on her take-home pay to the IIRS. To prevent that, the next year she increased her business expenses by hiring an employee to mind her store while she took more time off. Her net after-tax income was the same in both years. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?

Many small business owners are caught in the same situation, but they can change that by starting an MLM business in their homes. When a small business owner owns and operates an MLM out of her home, she can hire her children (7 years or older) to work in her MLM, and claim that child’s wages (translation: allowance) as a tax deduction. She can claim additional square footage in her house for office use and deduct that from her taxes. She can deduct her commuting miles between home and business round trip. She vastly increases her ability to deduct certain kinds of expenses, which ultimately means her take-home paycheck, after taxes, is much larger. Now isn’t that a creative way to generate dollars?

The Conversation is Just Beginning
There are a lot more advantages than can be listed here for small business owners to start their own MLM businesses. This is just the start of the conversation. MLM isn’t the same scammy industry it used to be, just as the economy isn’t the goldmine that it used to be.

If you own a small business and you are looking for a way to create a new stream of income, consider MLM. These days, an open mind can lead to a healthier checkbook. It might be time to reconsider your options for creating multiple streams of income.

Four out of seven people in our country are looking for different ways to make extra income other than just income from their jobs. Multi-level marketing and direct sales industry are the most prominent business model that helps millions of people to get acheive their dream income.

MLM is a business model in network marketing where one would be more of a sales person and will earn commission on each sale one makes. Commissions earned are very little as the products are usually low priced which means one has to work very hard to get the volume they need to make atleast $2000 per month. For every dollar one makes their upline or their sponsors will make certain amount depending on the company. Some of the mlm companies are Mary Kay, Avon, Pampered Chef etc.

Direct Sales is also a business model in the network marketing. Where one is more of a business owner than just a sales person. Most direct sales company will let you get paid first and then the company. Most of the products are high priced which means for the same amount of work you put in you can make a lot more money. Direct sales company in personal development pays one from $1000 per sale to $8000 per sale. So there high percentage of people who succeed and enjoy time and financial freedom.

Which business model is good for you if you are trying to decide? How much income are you looking to earn for your efforts? Are you looking for full training, support 24/7 and guidance to your success? Remember that there is a period of learning, so allow yourself some time and be commited to your success. Success does not come over night but be diligent and consistent. You will be successful in direct sales or mlm.

Did you know that some of the most successful Companies, were built by people just like you, who went on to earn millions and millions of dollars? And now I will give you the secret. Companies like Avon, Noni, and TupperWare, at one time, were unheard of, until they were introduced to the World through Network Marketing.

Network Marketing is here to stay and is becoming a MAJOR FORCE of economic growth around the World.

- World Famous Business Tycoon Warren Buffet’s largest acquisition a few years ago was Pampered Chef, a Network Marketing Company.

- Warren Buffet, of Omaha and famed billionaire stock market expert, turned heads on Wall Street in 2002 when he bought a network marketing company. Today, he no longer owns one… he owns three.(2005) (And has been quoted as saying, It’s the best investment I’ve ever made.) (Oh, and lets not forget. Warren Buffet bought almost a dozen or so Network Marketing companies last year alone 2006)

- The World’s 2 largest cosmetic companies, Avon and Mary Kay, are both network marketing companies:

- 1 out of every 6 people in Japan participate in Network Marketing and the number of active distributors in the US alone has doubled, just within the past 7 years!

So what does Warren Buffet know that most do not?

First of all, at $125,000+ per share of stock in his company, he knows that the average person just cannot afford this. However, just about anyone can afford to start their own business in Network Marketing. I mean, it’s not much more than the cost of a dinner and a movie for two and a night on the town. Perhaps this is why one of Warren Buffet’s largest acquisitions of the last few years was a Billion Dollar Network Marketing Company.

I would challenge anyone on Wall Street to take $3,000 and do what Doris Christopher has done: build a business from scratch into a world-class organization. As quoted by Warren Buffet from the foreword to The Pampered Chef. Warren also knows that conventional advertising is losing its punch and amongst other things, Network Marketing is the perfect way to reach more people.

- People are inundated by over 4,000 messages every single day – Tivo and other DVR’s allow consumers to eliminate commercials entirely – People are becoming numb to the marketing of major companies and would rather deal with people they know or know of.

IN THIS NEW AGE A NEW WAY IS NEEDED TO BREAKTHROUGH ALL THE CLUTTER1

Ask yourself, who do you trust more, your friend or a billboard?

So, now you can see why financial luminaries including Warren Buffet, Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump, Paul Zane Pilzer and even Richard Branson embrace network marketing.

Remember what Robert Kiyosaki, and Donald Trump said: “If I had to do it all over again, rather than build an old style type of business,I would have started building a network marketing business.” Paul Pilzer projects that over those same 10 years, the US economy will create ten million new millionaires and that many of them will be created in network marketing.

FACT: Right now, as you read these words, there are about 70,000 people around the world who are not network marketers and by this same time tomorrow, will be! Sir Richard Branson gave my favorite quote, on the risk of entrepreneurship. If you dot take risks you wont achieve anything. The quote was why he started his own business. He wanted to do things he could be proud of.

These business men know where the smart money is going, and now that you know, you can position yourself to profit. Right now people from all walks of life are enjoying success with network marketing by unleashing the power of Knowledge.

How about you? Are you ready to make your move? If so, don’t wait any longer.

If Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, Paul Zane Pilzer and Richard Branson are into network marketing and they are Billionaires why aren’t you? I know when Warren Buffet started to buy Silver everyone jumped in that market. Why have you stayed out of Network Marketing?

Well stay tuned for the next article – How to find the right Network Marketing company. To my faithful readers, as long as you keep reading, I will reveal the secrets to you of this industry. Just what the heavy hitters of the industry do not want you to know about.

If you haven’t tried garage sales for finding merchandise to sell on eBay, maybe you should explore this option. There is a strategy for getting the most out of your garage sale shopping efforts. Here are a few tips to help you maximize your efforts, and minimize your time investment.

1) Plan ahead. Go to craigslist to look for garage sale ads in your area. More and more people are relying on craigslist for free advertising. Garage sales usually start on Fridays, and the posts on craiglist start appearing on Tuesdays. Check daily for new posts, and keep a list of sales in your area. You can also look at your local newspaper’s website for garage sale ads. The big neighborhoods will usually advertise there. You can find a lot of items quickly if you go to the neighborhood sales, versus sales scattered around town.

2) Go to sales in the affluent parts of town. First, they will have better items. Second, you have no idea of a person’s financial situation and they may be having a garage sale to pay bills.

3) Go early. Most garage sales will start at 8 AM. Arrive early to get the best selection. The earlier in the day you start the better chance you have of finding “good” stuff.

4) Take plenty of cash. You don’t want to have to take valuable time convincing the seller to take your check. Most people have a garage sale for one reason – to make money. They don’t want checks – they want cold, hard, cash.

5) Be prepared. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Take bottled water. Keep snacks in the car. Bring your cell phone in case you find something you are unsure about, you can call your spouse or a friend for their opinion.

6) Don’t be afraid to bargain or make offers. People have garage sales to get rid of stuff. They don’t want to have to haul it all back in the house at the end of the day. Make reasonable offers and be fair.

7) Use the “cash in hand” technique. I do this all the time. Say for example I find something for $20, and think it is overpriced. I inconspicuously take a $10 bill out of my pocket and walk up to the seller. Then, with the bill in plain view, I say, “Hi, I am interested in that item over there. I only have $10 left, would you take that?” Seeing the cash, the seller usually takes it. The idea is to be reasonable. The later in the day that you use this technique, the better it works.

I have some interesting stories about garage sales. I went to a huge neighborhood sale in my community last fall. The woman had all kinds of men’s items – really nice clothing, shoes, golf equipment, sporting goods, and “guy stuff.” I found a really nice pair of Justin lizard skin boots, barely worn, for $5. (These boots retail for about $300.) That was an amazing find. So, I went to pay for the item, and the woman started telling me how she and her husband had a fight and he left town on a hunting trip for a week. She was having a garage sale and getting rid of all his stuff that she didn’t like. I asked, “He isn’t going to track me down and get me, is he?” She just laughed, and said, “Probably not. I might sell his car, too.” Those boots ended up selling for $98 and were shipped to Germany. You might be wondering what to look for at garage sales.

Here are some examples of what I have found, and how much the items sold for on eBay.

1) George Forman grill new in box , $5, sold for $30

2) Hooked on Phonics set, excellent used condition, $5, sold for $68

3) Mary Kay cosmetics, various items new in boxes, paid $1 each, sold for about $10 each (the lady was a Mary Kay rep getting rid of inventory)

4) Oscar de la Renta wool blazer new with tag, $5, sold for $52

5) Wagner wallpaper remover steamer new in box, $5, sold for $25

6) Dr. Martens shoes, gently worn, $3, sold for $47

7) Pampered Chef apple corer/peeler, used with box, $5, sold for $20

Men’s Nike Shox shoes, gently worn, $3, sold for $46

9) Yankee 20 oz jar candle, barely used (was lit once and the person didn’t like the scent), $1, sold for $12

10) Lexmark printer ink cartridge, new in box, $1, sold for $16 Look for items new in the package or new in the box. Look for gently used designer apparel and shoes.

So, you can see that garage sales are a great venue for finding items to sell. If you plan ahead, you can get a lot accomplished in one day. Learn more about selling on eBay Visit my blog for more eBay selling information

If you are an accomplished scrapbooker, you’ve put in many hours experimenting with layouts, colors, placements, and accessories. You’ve discovered some great ideas and thrown out some that didn’t work so well. You might even have reached the point where every time you go through a pile of photos, you arrange them in your mind in to pleasing displays.

These are skills that others could benefit from, especially beginners who aren’t sure how to bring together all their choices in materials with all the photographs and other memorabilia they have. These beginners often look with envy at the things you do and wonder if they will ever be able to do anything that nice. From your point of view, you know that all it would take for them to focus their creativity is someone to show them a few basics. 

That someone could be you. If your community has a scrapbooking shop, you could show the owner some of your material and offer to teach classes a day or two a week. In small towns, the owners themselves usually teach such classes, but small business owners have so many other things to do, they may be grateful for the extra help-especially since you would be paid by the students, not by the store.

If your town doesn’t have such a store, you could offer classes in your own home for a few friends at a time. In the same way that some people have Tupperware or Pampered Chef parties, you could hold classes. You yourself would supply the materials and your class could sit around your kitchen or dining room table…perhaps your church or school would even allow you to use their space on a Saturday morning or weeknight to gather your students. 

If you’ve been at this for a long time, you know things that others would really like to know. It could benefit both you and those beginners for you to offer your skills in whatever way you can.

If you are in the market to purchase new microwave cookware, you are in luck! Microwaving food has become such a popular method of cooking that there are many selections of cookware available to you that are perfectly safe to use in your microwave oven.

Even so, it is important that you make sure the the microwave cookware that you purchase is in fact microwave safe and of a high quality so that you are most successful when you are cooking. While many products are often labeled as being “microwave-safe,” they often fall short at being able to hold up to frequent use in the microwave. You end up continually having to purchase cookware because the containers that you have continually become damaged.

If you do a great deal of cooking in the microwave, you will certainly want to make sure that you purchase microwave cookware that is made by a reputable company and is made from high quality materials. Some of the best places to purchase your cookware are from manufacturers that specialize in kitchen products, such as Pampered Chef or Tupperware.

These two companies have long been known for providing superior products that are durable and last for many years. They each have a large selection of microwave cookware to choose from, from basic microwave dishes to microwave browning pans and other specialty products. Though their merchandise is often more expensive than other products made by less reputable companies, the quality of their merchandise is worth every penny. It will last you for many, many years without ever showing any real wear and tear.

Both Pampered Chef and Tupperware products are often sold at home parties by affiliates of the company. It is often rather easy for you to find someone in your area that sells these products and would be more than happy to have a party in your home. You can also often purchase their microwave cookware and other products online as well if you prefer.

If you want microwave cookware that will last for years and withstand whatever cooking torture you throw at it, make sure you invest in a quality product. When it comes to microwave cookware, the old adage “You get what you pay for,” certainly rings true.

Today Pampered Chef is a multi million dollar corporation that spans the U.S., Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Today Pampered Chef is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Sold to Berkshire in 2002 due to the inability of Pampered Chef to be able to handle the changing standards in the industry. The Pampered Chef compensation plan is unlike most other multi-level marketing company compensation plans that you will find. To make money with the Pampered Chef compensation plan, you will have to do home parties at the hostess’s house. So you better enjoy toting all the tools around, cooking and talking.

During the show, you are explaining the versatility of the products that Pampered Chef sells and the convenience of their recipes. The “chef” prepares a few of the recipes that the hostess picks out as a demonstration of the tool and the recipes. While the guests then nibble on the food, the “chef” collects orders, books parties and answers questions.

You are paid a percentage of the sales that are created at each party. You are also paid a percentage of what the people you are able to recruit into the business sell. The difference here is that the higher you move up in the company, the less money you make off the people you have placed under you. So really the best way to make the most money is to sell, sell, sell! Pampered Chef is a good retail business. If you are looking for a way to build a business under you and make more money as you advance within the company, Pampered Chef is not the place for you.

Lets face it, times are tough! In the downswing of American economics people your seeing less and less of Mary Kay and Pampered Chef parties and more gold parties. But maybe your not sure what they are. Since the gold jewelry you bought ten years ago have tripled in value people are turning around and making a profit and they are doing so through gold parties.

Remember the last Mary Kay party you went to. Lounging around with your girlfriends and neighbors, sipping wine, and listening about the latest cosmetic line. Now lets make one alteration. Instead of going home knowing you spent just a little more than you planned to you leave with more cash than you came in with! That is what a gold party is like.

Hosting these parties usually means a commission or profit of the sales. So even though everyone is being paid to attend and sell their old gold you can get paid even more!

Many gold parties have an inspector who checks the quality of your jewelry. They asses the carat, weight, and overall value of your gold or jewelry. Now I many don’t want a stuffy stranger in their house so lately people have been having gold parties and check the quality themselves. They then will send it out to a company who would fill the role of the inspector, but they don’t have to come to your party and make you uncomfortable.

There are actually a few reasons you don’t want the inspector crashing your party. Selling gold is a buyer-beware market. Sleazy inspectors will devalue the worth of your precious jewelry and leaving your with the less money. (some even use scales that are tampered with!) A key to playing it safe is to know what you are selling before you sell it. Know the quality of the gold and how much you know its worth. Just because your having a good time doesn’t mean you have to be swindled.

Without going into too much detail you; you can find instruments online to quickly check what quality gold you have. Being the resident expert at a gold party puts you in control of your gold so that you always come out ahead.

Millions of people have purchased products from a network marketing company without even realizing it. Some very famous businesses are actually marketing companies: Avon, Pampered Chef, and Mary Kay are all examples of this. These are clearly successful organizations, so it should come as no surprise that people can make a great deal of money by investing in a marketing company.

A person should do some research before investing in a marketing company. Each marketing company is different, so investors cannot always expect the same thing from each one. The first issue that people will need to consider is the products sold by the company. This is because it is very difficult for people to sell products that they are not passionate about. You do not want to invest in a network marketing company that sells software if you dislike computers. It is also important for people to test the products before they invest. A person may be selling products that he or she is passionate about, but problems can still arise if the products are of poor quality. Bad products make it very difficult to maintain a good customer base. Finally, the people selling the products should actually use them. Salespeople who use the product will be much more creditable than those who do not. If a salesperson uses the product, and enjoys it, he or she will make a much more convincing sales pitch.

The last step to being successful in network marketing is to get the proper training and practice. People who are interested in investing in a network marketing company can visit BlackDiamondUniversity.com to learn more about this opportunity.

He bought a company called Pampered Chef a while back. If Warren Buffet can see that network marketing is the best business model out their then why do many network marketers not take their business seriously. I like using Warren Buffet for example of how powerful our industry is. The reason he bought a network marketing company is because of the business model and the big opportunity, it can provide for anyone who takes massive action. Leaders in our industry can identify with who Warren Buffet is. Their are many leaders in our industry who are not getting any results in their business and wonder why it’s not happening for the. The fact is that sitting at your desk checking email or doing anything with email is not taking action in your business.

Their comes a point when you have to step back and hold yourself responsible and ask yourself is the activity I do to build my business every day the most effective activity possible. Let’s use Warren Buffet network marketing for example again. When he bought Pampered Chef, do you think he just sat back and did activities that didn’t make the company the most money. Of course not. I will admit that he most likely over sees how the company is being built and has a team that runs the company most effectively. So what does this have to do with you? Most network marketers don’t have the income to hire a top team of people to build and run their business for them.

However, this is exactly why you have to check yourself and your own activity in your business regularly to make sure your running your business the most effective way possible. Warren Buffet network marketing has been used as an effective example why this industry is in a position to put network marketing on the map in a massive way. He is not the only successful business owner that recognizes our industry as the next wave of unlimited opportunity. This is why I bring this up. If you find yourself having challenges building your business, then step back and re evaluate the activity that’s being taken in your business. Their is activity that just will keep you busy and money making activity. Ask yourself, am I doing money making activity in my own business?