The Network Marketing Success Ezine

Stop going golfing unless you're out in a cow pasture somewhere where it's free. This is just another money waster until your business is running well. I'm sure you're tempted to think, "But I could find new prospects here." Yes, you can if you have a business to tell them about or are legitimately prospecting. But for now you have zero, zip, zilch, NOTHING. If you're gone from the links two months and are starting to do well and get back for an occasional game, then you'll have something to tell them about, but not before.

Reduce shopping time for clothes, etc. In fact while you're in this rapid cash accumulation phase, stop looking at catalogs of "want to have" items and stop "window shopping." It will just tempt you to spend the money you've managed to save so far.

Before you buy something new while you're trying to fund your business, ask yourself:

• Do I really need it? Will this help me reach my dream?
• If the answer is "Yes" ... can you pay for it with cash? Could you get it somewhere else cheaper? Have you considered auctions, flea markets and other sources?
• Have I waited for 24 hours to see if the need suddenly wasn't so great?
• Is there a less expensive alternative I could use?

This will be a hard thing for many of you to do. But I suggest that if you really need the start up cash that you hold a yard sale or take your junk - I mean antiques - or whatever you think you can sell to the flea market. If you hate to sell in those contexts, go to the flea market some Saturday and see what's being sold there.

Find the people selling the things closest to what you have to offer and offer to sell them what you have so they can resell it. You can meet them during the week and never have to return to the flea market. (But you'll make more cash selling it directly). They might even want to sell your MLM products if you mention them. You could get a distributor out of this!

An alternative to the flea markets with potentially higher returns for some household items is using a consignment shop.

What could you sell?

• How about that second or third TV? How about that second or third VCR? How about that second or third radio?
• How about those expensive power tools you've never learned how to use and think only exist to be props for he-man TV sitcoms?
• How about that old air conditioner sitting in the garage that still works?
• How about that old lawnmower you replaced last season?
• How about the kids' old bikes they never ride anymore?
• How about the kids' video games they're too mature to play with anymore?
• How about the paperback books you've accumulated over the years? (At the very least trade your old paperbacks for something you haven't read if you're a reading fanatic!)
• How about the kids' assortment of stuffed animals, toys, infants' clothes, and other outgrown childhood items which no longer appeal to them?
• Maybe you could sell the transmitter and receiver system you used to use to hear your baby snore.
• How about any old appliance that still works?
• How about selling that exercise machine(s) that is like new because you never used it (them)?
• How about selling that extra computer junk you have lying around but never use?

There's bound to be something you can sell! I didn't even mention selling your old shoes, old suits and party dresses that have somehow shrunk with age!

Here's a radical suggestion if you really need to bite the bullet to free up money right now and every month thereafter. Sell one or both of your cars to pay them off completely. Then buy a cheap functional car you can pay off all at once. Use your monthly payments, which you now no longer owe to keep your junker(s) running and provide the surplus to fund your new business.

Of course, don't use your car to try to impress people in that situation unless your grandma gives you her Mercedes for free.

If you're really desperate I suppose you could sell your house and move into something smaller that would free up more money too ... of course your spouse might threaten to kill you and being dead would then make it hard to operate a home-based business!

But you get the idea ... this concept can free up monthly cash flow you can then use in your business!

What if none of these suggestions applies to you and you are penniless?

It would be better to get a part time job at a burger place, learn their system and work there saving every penny for a few months, than go into debt.

Remember, creating a viable home business that lasts a lifetime won't happen overnight. Better to discipline yourself for a few extra months working a part-time job than go deeper into debt.

No, this isn't the glamorous approach of going to an opportunity meeting and going from rags to riches in a few weeks.

This is the decidedly unglamorous approach that can save you from racking up credit card bills you'll take years to repay by trying to emulate the glamorous approach by faking it until you make it!

Want more ideas? Okay, here they are . . .

• Plan to resell some or all of your product purchases at retail the first few months to recover your capital plus earn retail profits.
• Have your paycheck from work deposited directly into your account to avoid the temptation of walking around with lots of cash that disappears.
• If your spouse is more likely to be the saver in the family - give the checkbook to your spouse!

Still need another idea for some quick cash? OK, here's one that may work. Run a small inexpensive classified ad or distribute a flyer that reads:

Lots of people could do this as a small business perpetually, but it does soon get tiresome. Basically you're going to go to a messy room of some sort, clean out all the junk and leave the room looking nice. You'll use their vacuum cleaner to tidy up, and you'll straighten up everything before you go. Then you'll haul off the trash.

You're probably thinking, "For $20, I'd go broke doing all that!"

Would you be surprised to know that you could probably do this service for free and still make money?

Here's how:

Once you leave with a truckload of junk, you don't go straight to the landfill.

Instead, you take all the metals and plastics to the recycling center (or you accumulate a truckload and take it all at once). Collect your fee.

You take old lamps, fixable furniture, and anything potentially collectible like old games, baseball cards, etc., to the antique dealers who give you the best prices. (If you're not sure what is collectible nowadays the answer is almost anything.) Take a trip to the antique stores in town. Collect your fee.

You take clothes to for-profit secondhand stores or consignment shops. Or you give them to some charity for a tax receipt. Collect your fee.

You may be able to take other things like used golf clubs, athletic gear, fishing rods, guns, etc. to pawn shops or secondhand stores that will pay or let you trade for what you need there. Collect your fee.

Old washers, dryers and other appliances may be sold for parts to people who specialize in fixing these things. Collect your fee.

Salvage kids toys, games, etc., that are no longer used for the secondhand shops. Salvage as much as you can and sell it to the appropriate buyers. Collect your fee.

What's left you take to the landfill. Because you never know until you sort through things at home just how much you can salvage, you collect the full landfill fee. Here it's $27 for one pickup truckload. What if after salvaging items from three homes you have only one full truckload? Your cost is only $27, though you've collected $81 for this service.

Obviously if other people in town copy your idea and you find out that you're only making one trip to the junkyard for every few homes, you may take a chance and say, "$20 per room with free delivery to the landfill - we'll waive the $27 landfill fee!" That's up to you of course, but you do have some flexibility.

And the $27 you collected from some homes where you didn't go straight to the landfill isn't all profit. You still had to drive around town disposing of the goods to various buyers. You are still paying a landfill fee of sorts.

Note: If you don't charge something for your service, people will be suspicious and likely not call you. They'll be afraid you're casing the joint for a future robbery or something. Or they'll figure that salvaging everything is so profitable you should pay them for the favor of rooting through their garbage. You don't want your customers having either perception because neither is true!

Let's say that for every house you serve you get $20 fee, $27 landfill fee, and you make another $25 on average from the salvage. (Maybe you'll make $100 or more depending on the finds you make but let's be conservative.) That's $72 per trip for a few hours' work.

You do four jobs per week or $288. You make two trips to the landfill ($54). Driving around to deliver all the other stuff takes another $30. You've got over $200 to reinvest in your business. In a month you'll have your $1000, maybe lots more. If you save the proceeds and roll it into your MLM business these profits aren't taxable because you're going to devote them to future business expenses.

If you can develop a good rapport with the people you're working for, you might even be able to sell them some of your MLM products for extra profits.

So what are you going to do about it?

What steps will you take RIGHT NOW to begin generating an extra $1,000 in the next 30 to 60 days to start your business or sponsoring campaign?