Two months into the project and here’s where we are:

Launched www.LessTaxforDocs.com.  This is a landing page that comes from a blog I’m doing for a physician’s financial news site.  Initially, this was going well.  Now, I’ve submitted blog entries and they haven’t been posted (no new activity at the physician’s site) and haven’t gotten an answer.  In January, two financial magazines for Drs closed their doors.  So I worry a little that there might be some internal shake-up going at the other site.   This is the LAST magazine of its type.  I wonder if there is a big opportunity here….  Meanwhile, though, the leads have slowed up because the content that drives to LessTaxforDocs.com has dried up.

Launched www.TrustSandwich.com.  This one was almost TOO successful.  We had so many inquiries that we kind of reached that spot where you’re running around in complete overwhelm and nothing is getting done.  My husband has stepped in to sort through the leads and pull out the serious inquiries from the people who want free information or just want to debate.  A couple of funny calls, though - one guy said he’s being doing the TrustSandwich(tm) for years.  Considering I have the ™ on it and it has NEVER shown up in any written literature, I’m pretty sure he’s wrong.  When questioned, it was just like it except he used a different kind of trust (that isn’t allowed in all 50 states) and didn’t use an LLC and just used one trust, not two.  Otherwise, it was just like it….  

About the time when I was figuring out the next B-I project, I ran into a client who had his income go from about $100K/year to $50K/mo.  Boom!  It just went up like crazy.  The thing is, I’ve seen this kind of thing before.  In fact, I could almost have predicted it.  This is the phenomena that always (I mean ALWAYS) happens with someone who finds a networking marketing company and is diligent at working the program.  The first year or two you lose money, third year start to make some and then right at the 4th- 5th year it exploded.  But this client’s deal was different.  He made money right away AND it only took him 2 1/2 years to reach the tipping point.  So, I investigated.

Here are my own personal rules regarding network marketing:

(1)  It has to be something useful.  I am not interested in supporting a product that I first have to convince everyone to use.

(2)  It has to be cheaper than I can buy at the store.  I’m sorry for the people who have gone into new products, fought an uphill battle trying to educate the population on the benefits of it and then when they finally reach the point where people “get it”, Costco comes along and sells it for half the cost.  

(3) Network marketing company itself has to be legitimate.  The ideal company is one that is fairly new so you can get in on the “ground floor” but has enough years of experience that you know they can deliver.  The founders need to have integrity.  (You have to trust your gut on this one.)  And if I can’t meet one-on-one with the founder and key people back at headquarters, I pass.

(4)  It’s not just a selling opportunity, but actually direct selling of something people want/need.  In other words, if you never recruited another person into the program, you’d still make money.

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks investigating networking marketing opportunities.  I’ve never been directly involved before, so I want to go slowly.  And before you start worrying that this site is about to turn into some obnoxious MLM “opportunity” site.  I promise you, it won’t.  This has to be something that makes sense on its own and that makes sense for other people whether they sign up other people or not.  

One more stat - in economic downturns, home-based businesses increase by 300 -400%.