Network Marketing
Business Plan
Your Network Marketing Business Plan is
unlike any other business plan you will ever write.
Typically business plans set out the
- Experience of the owner in this
field
- Background on the industry
- Financial information on the
industry
- Marketing plan, usually with
established marketing channels
- Manufacturing or development
strategy
- Plans for growth
Do you honestly think you could write
intelligently about any one of these items as they pertain to Network
Marketing? AND make a banker understand it? (That's the real
catch: Make a banker understand it.)
Maybe before the dot-com crash I could
have gotten some lenders to listen. But not now. I could
print out this entire website, put in pretty pictures, and bind it
nicely. And I'm not sure at all that any banker would fund it.
A Network Marketing business plan is an
alien item to lenders. Heck, it's an alien item to most of us, and
we work in it.
Also before MLM became such a dirty
word I might have gotten some lenders interested. But not now.
Now "MLM" and "Network Marketing" are often viewed as one in the same,
and that's not good.
| The concept of "Network
Marketing" as drawing from multiple streams of income, all built
around a common concept, just hasn't entered the mainstream yet. |
So Why Have a
Business Plan?
Well, there are still several audiences
that can benefit from your Network Marketing business plan.
YOU. This is the most
important audience.
What do you really plan on doing with
this business?
Brainstorm with yourself and find out
just how many potential income streams you can devise.
Figure out how much money you can
honestly make, and how long it will take you to get there.
Figure out if you might need outside
financial input, and if so, where it might possibly come from.
YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER.
Honest. With the time and energy you are going to be putting into
this, you need all the emotional support you can get.
YOUR LENDER. It's probably
not a banker. It is more likely a friend or relative who will loan
you the money for that new computer you need, or spring for a web
designer to build your site professionally (which is not usually
necessary, incidentally). When you can present a thorough,
well-thought out plan, you are much further ahead.
The Marketing Plan
for Your Network Marketing Business Plan
When a cement contractor opens shop, or
a needlework store opens, there are real statistics they can gather on
their industry and on their geographical region that will tell them how
much business they can reasonably expect. They know how they can
promote their business, and what that promotion is going to cost.
Where are the statistics for a Network
Marketing company for a book editor? or an online bridal supply
store? or an online travel agency? They don't exist.
What does exist are statistics
pertaining to how many searches real people do each month on keywords
pertaining to your topic. About half of you reading this page
found it by searching for "network marketing business plan", or some
variation thereof. In fact, I used this keyword because I knew so
many of you would be searching on it.
Successful Network Marketing websites
are built around knowing how to find and use these keywords. Step
One of your Marketing Plan is to identify and use those keywords.
And Step Two of your Marketing Plan is
to populate your website with revenue-generating streams of income.
What About a Five
Year Network Marketing Business Plan?
That, actually, is a good idea.
Few Network Marketing businesses spring up, fully loaded and ready to
go. Most grow, changing to meet the needs of their visitors.
Over time yours will grow too, sometimes in unexpected ways.
That's fine. Put your goal in place, and be ready to adjust your
Plan from time to time to reach that goal.
