First of all, be realistic! If you have any delusions that you can succeed in network marketing without treating it like a real business, forget it. Get out now and walk away before you waste a lot of time and money. As an example, when I am introducing a new person to my business, I tell them that they will need to commit to a minimum of 1 to 3 years if they expect success. Three to five would be better, but 1-3 is minimum.

Secondly they need to commit to being a student and a ‘servant leader’. The student mindset creates space for them to learn what they need to know about the company, its products, and the industry and of course themselves, in order to have any hope of success. “Fake it till you make it” does not work!

The servant-leader mindset helps you create success by creating success with others. This makes it both rewarding (financially and emotionally) and sustainable.

Then I tell them the truth about finances. That they will need to access to some funding to get their business moving and growing. My minimum recommendation is that a person has access to $2,500 to $5,000. This could be from savings, retirement funds, raised by the sale of some assets (or some junk), a gift from family or as a last resort access to a credit line of some kind.

That is the meaning behind the title of this article. Network marketing is a great industry which sells some amazing products. You can ‘join’ most companies for a $50 or less. But listen, ‘joining’ a company and starting a business are light-years apart from each other and definitely NOT the same thing.

Just because you join a company, order some products and agree to buy some every month (which reduces your cost) DOES NOT equate to starting a business.

If I can just emphasize this enough, it will save you a lot of frustration and disappointment and probably a substantial amount of money.

Let us go back to the example of my company. A person can ‘join’ for $29.95. They pay that subscription every month for a website system with which they can run their entire business. In fact, in our company they do not even have to buy something every month, so they are ‘in business’ for $29.99. Well technically, ‘yes’, but in reality? Oh Please! Listen to me; you will go bust if you buy into this garbage. Slowly and painfully you will add a little more there into your ship that has a gaping hole in it before you even weighed anchor!

Why do I tell people $2,500 to $5,000? Well, first of all they have to be a product of the product. I am not even going to bother with someone who is trying to sell a product that they do not even believe in enough to get for themselves! Of course, legally there can be no prerequisite to purchase product in order to participate in an opportunity. However on the other side of that coin, in 30 years of Network Marketing I have never personally met anyone who got into a company didn’t buy the products and then succeeded with the business. I am sure there is the rare exception, but it is VERY rare!

Then they need tools and resources for marketing themselves and their company and its products the right way and a way that can be taught to others.

Finally, they need a workable business budget for their first 60 to 90 days.
Trying to find this money out of any cash-flow coming into the business is just not effective. For every one person that has pulled it off, there are a 1000 or more that failed.

Look, this is not doom and gloom but it is common sense. If you do not have access to $2,500 to $ 5,000 in either assets or credit, you do not need a business. You need an extra job, so that you can make the money needed to give yourself a chance to succeed.

In business terms, you can start a network marketing business for a fraction of the cost of a franchise or a traditional business. BUT it is still a business and you will go bust in network marketing if you do not set it up correctly.

Do not JOIN a company, start a business.

If you are a networker today and you are NOT being real with people regarding what it actually takes to start getting success, you might want to give this some thought. You may end up recruiting lower numbers but you will have a more sustainable and ultimately much more powerful business.