Who’s a Good Prospect for Network Marketing?

People who know how the world works

It’s astonishing how many people still believe that network marketing must be some sort of scam because it pays out so much in commissions.  These folks are simply clueless about the cost of things.  Over Thanksgiving I had a chance to handle an old time Tommy gun  --  of course not to fire it, it was not in working order.  (Is our government afraid of us?)  I concluded that I am just not the strong arm type, and decided to get one of those barbells you shake like a cocktail shaker I read about in Men’s Health.

I fired up the old browser and found a uniform price of thirty bucks give or take a nickel from places as close as a couple of blocks from the house.  And six dollars  --  in lots of 30,000.  That gives you some idea of the cost of marketing, never mind that the wholesaler has his own markup, and the webmaster of the wholesale directory has to make his own commissions too.  So yes, a network marketing company can fund a generous compensation plan and still beat the prices at RiteAid and Bed, Bath, and Beyond  --  not to mention Macy’s.

People who are marginalized

Even before I defended a doctoral dissertation I realized there was no place for me in the academy.  There was a virtual hiring freeze on white heterosexual Christian males, and if you think it’s bad now, you should have been around then.  So I did what so many others have done and took the Federal civil service test, and did very well indeed.  Too well.  People like me were doing too well, other people not so well.  I managed to get one interview, with the IRS, before that damned liberal Nixon tore up the list.  (This was about the time his OSHA told the people building the World Trade Center to stop using asbestos.  The floors built after that were the ones that burned on 9/11.)  So yeah, you see a lot of white males in network marketing, and doing well enough to bring their wives in as partners.

You see a lot of black women, too, strong, successful black women.  You see no matter how well a woman or a man of color does his job, the idiots around him and her will always mutter about affirmative action.  And, I am sorry to say, there are other idiots (idiots come in all colors and all sexes) who will criticize the skilled and ambitious as traitors to their peers.  There aren’t so many idiots in network marketing.  There may be a few, but I just haven’t run into them yet.

Young people

We were talking with our accountant a while ago when the subject of retirement came up.  “Retirement?” he exclaimed.  “Nobody can afford to retire!”  Tough for the old folks.  But what about the young folks waiting for a chance to show what they can do?  Many college graduates of the last decade are still living at home while making what they can at Starbucks or Walmart  --  the kinds of jobs retired people used to take when inflation ate up their pensions.  The jobs young people used to take to get their foot in the door are getting filled with permanent employees, a permanent underclass.  No wonder, then, that so many of the rising stars in network marketing are in their 20s and 30s.

Performing Artists

Nobody goes out to eat any more.  Big tippers are an endangered species.  Law and Order moved to LA.  And substitute teaching sucks.  Always has, always will.  The good news is that actors, singers, and dancers are naturals for network marketing.  They need income opportunities that don't undermine their main mission, and they are connected to networks of people who need those opportunities.  They also need many services marketed through those opportunities, which other folks get through their mundane careers.  And if your favorite waiter or bartender isn't an actor, be broadminded and offer your opportunity anyway.

People Who Don't Trust the Corporations

The bank where I used to work, the one founded by Alexander Hamilton, was recently acquired by another financial institution.  Twice.  My former boss was given the unenviable assignment of working out the new staffing plan, eliminating redundancies.  He did it, and did it well.  His reward:  to get fired himself.  My father could start working for Western Electric at 20, retire at 62, and expect me to do something similar.  (It was after that that the Bell System fell apart.)  That was so last century.  People today not only have to have a plan B, they have to be working it.  I have found that network marketing is the way to go.

People Who Don't Trust the Government

Europeans are a prudent folk, and many had their own retirement savings plans.  In several countries these have been confiscated to pay for government debt.  Can it happen here?  People are already talking about it, claiming that the fruits of personal prudence are a discriminatory privilege.  Even if there is no outright confiscation, some "progressives" are counting on continued and worsening inflation to reduce the Haves to the state of Have Nots.  Political risk is only one thing that makes residual income a safer retirement plan than many others.