Interview with Jim Peterson -
home based business expert
Jim Peterson's
business career is rich and varied. He has a BS in marketing and he served
in the USMC during the Vietnam era, discharged as a Captain. Jim has 40
years experience in health clubs and aromatherapy. He also has 16 years
experience in home based businesses.
Q: Jim, tell us about your experience in home based business.
A: My First
Home Based Business, networking company - 1992 to present My second home
business was a networking start-up company that failed. My third home based
business was a networking start-up company that sold to a larger MLM
company. I am now involved in another networking company that is thriving
after 6 years.
Q: Describe your experience offline before you became a home
business expert.
A: For the last 40 years I have been a successful independent real estate
development consultant. I discovered networking 16 years ago and realized
that it was a much better lifestyle. With my partner we found a MLM company
we liked and built a successful MLM business. Home based business provided
me the financial freedom to do what I wanted
with my time. Frankly, thinking back on it, I don’t know how it happened
but over the years I was lured back to real estate development business.
Thankfully, through my partner of 16 years ago I was reintroduced to network
marketing and the joy of freedom and fun that it offers.
Q: Tell us about your
business history on the Internet.
A: My first Internet experience was setting up the
commercial site for our aromatherapy company. This was followed by a retail
site for Red Hat member products. I did not become involved with social
networking until I re-awakened my interest in a networking home based
business. I am amazed at the growth of social networking, however,
from a business point of view, I don't feel it is working as it should.
Q: Please elaborate about how social networking is not working to meet
its potential.
I'm not sure why but I have
a theory which may not be well received by the audience that counts in my
industry (women [85% of the industry] 35-64 years old [68% of the industry])
or my partner who fits these categories.
Q: How do men and women
differ in their approaches to online marketing and social networking?
A: Speaking in broad generalizations, the “face” of
our industry is primarily men while the networking backbone of the industry
is primarily women. Why? Because women are less interested in standing on
stage to receive applause and recognition and are more interested in
building relationships. To the women's detriment, in many cases as a women
will work with and nurture a colleague where a man will move on much quicker
which leads to a feeling of uneasiness.
Q: What would you do if you were starting from scratch?
A:
I would do just about what I did, however, now that I have done it, other
people can ask me before they start to save them some time. What I did is
get a bunch of books on Internet marketing and social marketing to see what
others thought. I then started surfing the WWW to try to figure out the new
language “they” have invented. I then had to read blogs, join groups and
spend a lot of time thinking about what was going on and what social
networking is and is not. Then I had to analyze the offers, ads and advice
being given to figure what they were selling and if it made any long term
sense. Very interesting and time consuming.
Q: If you could start over, would you get into the
traditional MLM Company or would you get into Direct Sales of hard products?
A:
I want to make the social networking model work. To do this I want to
have a relationship with a company that is old enough for me to feel they
have stability yet young enough for my organization to have the opportunity
to reach their individual goals. I want a company that is committed to its
compensation plan and has investors and key executives that I feel are
committed to the company for a long enough period to allow my organization
to succeed.
All that being in place, I want a company that will do
all the administrative record keeping for me. I want to feel comfortable
with their ability to manufacture, warehouse, ship and provide customer
service to my business builders as well as my customers.
I favor MLM companies. Not only do they meet all my
requirements they give me the opportunity for a residual income stream for
myself and a legacy I can leave to my family. Direct Selling companies
compensation plans are structured to stop paying once you stop selling; not
so with most MLM companies. In addition, MLM companies have a proven track
record of producing cutting edge products. While traditional media and
government agencies tend to rely on industry funded studies to inform them,
I would rather hear a real story about a product from someone I know.
Naturally, if it's a health related product once you are interested you will
want documentation as well as testimonials.
I want a consumable product that my customers will
order on a regular basis and that the company will ship directly to my
customers without me being involved. This allows me to leverage my growth by
spending my time supporting my business builders rather than continuing to
sell new customers a hard product.
Q: Define MLM in your own words?
A:
The term is used interchangeably; Multilevel Marketing - MLM, Network
Marketing. Person to Person Marketing, Referral Marketing and soon Social
Media Networking. Network Marketing/MLM is considered a part of the Direct
Selling Industry. The term Direct Selling relates to the method of
distribution, direct from the producer to the consumer. Network Marketing
refers to the method of compensation. Compensation is based not only on a
persons own sales but on the sales of their “downline,” those people who
they sponsored into the business.
I don't have a cheeky definition for Network Marketing
(MLM). To me it provides all the advantages of the original franchise
concept without the heavy initial investment and employees required of a
typical franchise. The company will create a product, do all the
administrative record keeping, manufacturing, warehousing, shipping and
customer service while the independent distributor only pays a fee to join,
usually less than joining Costco, and spends their energy building a
wholesale business and an organization of business builders.
A misconception that many seem to have is that network
marketing is more like a chain letter than a business. Network marketing,
like any business, requires an investment in time and money to make it work.
Just like any business you have to select the right product that is priced
to sell and sell it.
Q: Why should people not be put off by the term MLM?
A:
People should not be put off by the term MLM. I had an interesting
experience while I was doing my research. I went to Wikidedia to look up
some facts on a company. The review was very negative. I was surprised
because I had heard a lot of positive things about the company. On Wikipedia
you can go into the comments section of the “experts” to look at the
interaction between the “experts.” Turns out the person doing the review
had a biases against MLM companies and was not interested in the facts about
any MLM Company, they were all bad. That's like saying “I heard that a
restaurant somewhere had done something bad and that all restaurants located
in that place were bad and and not only restaurants in that place but all
restaurants were bad.”
This brings up a couple of things that people should
be aware of about the Social Networking on the Internet. People can and do
say whatever they want on the WWW whether it is right, true, researched or
not. That's O.K., well its not O.K., but it is the way it is; people using
the WWW just have to be aware of this fact. The other thing is that the
“experts” will stick to their guns even when they have been shown to be
wrong. The great news is that everything you want to know about anything is
on the WWW. All you have to do is look and double check your info.
Q: What would you look for in an MLM or direct sales business today?
A:
I believe once you decide you want to get involved in a home based business,
and I believe that MLM is the best way to go, pick a business that you are
interested in, does not require an expertise that you don't have and will be
costly to learn, does not require that you pay a lot of money up front, the
product is
consumable and has a proven market.
Q: Social Networking: Is it working to meet its
potential?
A:
I believe that social networking will evolve to bring joy and financial
freedom to the social network. I just want it to happen now. In the Network
Marketing Industry women in the age group of 34 – 64 make up the majority
of the independent distributors. In the Web 2.0 social networking
communities that group makes up less than 10% of those involved. Why?
Because they are busy raising a family, taking care of the home, working a
second job or being a single parent and doing everything. They social
network but have not found the time to learn how to integrate Web 2.0 tools
to let themselves have a better life.
However, it's coming because the United States'
economy continues to mature from a product oriented marketplace to service
orientation creating even greater opportunities for the Network Marketing
Home Based Business expansion worldwide. The women who make up the backbone
of the network marketing industry will expand even further as more of them
embrace Web 2.0 technological opportunities. Web 2.0 advances in technology,
both communication and data processing, has made the Home Based Business
dream a reality for more and more people around the world. This is not an
anomaly or short term market trend; this is the future.
I do not believe that Social Networking has recognized
it business potential for the individual within the social network. I
believe Social Networking will use Web 2.0 marketing tools as the catalyst
for dramatic expansion through network marketing home based businesses as it
continues its evolution.
When a new concept is born,
like online business social networking, women are reluctant to jump in even
though women make up the majority of the true social
networks. While most studies indicate that women dominate the social
networks most of those women are 14 to 34, not our group. The 34 – 64+ age
group of both men and women make up about 10% of social
network groups and our age group of networking women only about half
of that. Still a large group but combine this uneasiness with little
training in entrepreneurship and its no wonder they don't jump in.
It is difficult to explain to someone without a business background why
someone like me, for example, would consider it irreverent that I had been
an independent distributor in two failed MLM companies. We have been taught
that Big business is somehow better than Small
business even
though the majority of traditional brick and mortar businesses that start
fail within five years. Not to mention the Savings and Loan mess, Dot com
melt down, Bank failures, Real Estate debacle, etc. all caused by
“traditional” business practices. I'm a little negative here and its not
my nature, however, while all the melt downs are taking place small and home
based businesses, which represent 50% of the Gross National Product and
particularly, networking home based businesses continue to provide, we the
people, with freedom and financial
independence.
All
that being the case why won't social networkers network their home based
business using Web 2.0
technology? They will, it is just a matter of time. The
fact is people would rather buy products and services from people they know
and trust. It is developing that trust over the WWW that is the challenge. Networking
businesses will eclipse affilliate marketing on the net. I want them to do
it now, with me. That's why I launched my
Blog http://homebasedbusinessnetworking.blogspot.com
and
Website
http://homebasedbusinessnetworking.com
.
I want to share with the women in our industry how Web 2.0 is going to make the existing, established 100 billion dollar Direct Selling/Network Marketing Industry much, much bigger. It is a lot easier to take a piece of a rapidly expanding 100 billion dollar market than it is to create a new market. Naturally I am promoting my business plan. I hope this becomes a model for others. What I am doing will work for any legitimate business.
Greg Cryns
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Scentsy: http://www.scentsy.com/16684
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg
