MLM and Network Marketing Training

Why Social Security Alone IS a Risk and What You Can Do about It.

Social Security is a valuable program that provides a financial safety net for millions of Americans in their retirement years. However, relying solely on Social Security for retirement income can be risky. Here are some of the risks associated with relying solely on Social Security for retirement income:

  1. Social Security Benefits May Not Be Enough

Social Security benefits are designed to replace only a portion of a worker’s pre-retirement income. The Social Security Administration estimates that benefits will replace about 40% of pre-retirement income for the average worker. This means that if your pre-retirement income was $50,000 per year, you can expect to receive about $20,000 per year in Social Security benefits. For many people, this may not be enough to live on in retirement, especially if they have significant expenses, such as medical bills or long-term care costs.

  1. Social Security May Not Be Around Forever

Social Security is funded by payroll taxes paid by current workers, which are used to pay benefits to current retirees. As the population ages and the number of retirees grows, there may not be enough workers paying into the system to support the benefits promised to retirees. In fact, the Social Security Administration projects that the trust fund that supports the program will be exhausted by 2033. While the program is unlikely to disappear entirely, it is possible that benefits could be reduced in the future.

  1. Social Security Benefits May Be Taxed

If your retirement income is high enough, your Social Security benefits may be subject to federal income taxes. This can reduce the amount of income you have available to cover your expenses in retirement. For example, if you are married filing jointly and your combined income (including half of your Social Security benefits) is more than $34,000, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits may be subject to federal income taxes.

  1. Social Security May Not Keep Up with Inflation

Social Security benefits are adjusted each year to keep up with inflation, but the amount of the adjustment may not be enough to keep pace with the rising cost of living. This means that the purchasing power of your Social Security benefits may decrease over time, making it more difficult to cover your expenses in retirement.

  1. Social Security Does Not Provide Long-Term Care Coverage

Long-term care, such as nursing home care or in-home care, can be a significant expense for retirees. Social Security does not provide coverage for long-term care, so retirees who need this type of care may need to rely on other sources of income, such as personal savings or Medicaid.

  1. Social Security Benefits May Be Reduced if You Work in Retirement

If you choose to continue working in retirement, your Social Security benefits may be reduced if you earn too much income. This is known as the earnings test. For example, if you are under full retirement age for the entire year and earn more than $18,960 in 2021, your benefits will be reduced by $1 for every $2 you earn over the limit.

What Can You Do?

Consider building a low risk high reward home business. I remember my grandpa repairing bicycles and bring them to the swap meet for extra income. He also would sell other items he picked up at yard sales, repaired and resold them at the swap meet. I don’t know if they need the money or he just wanted to stay busy but I do know they were on a fixed income with Social Security. I admire his work ethic but today there are other options you can explore. One that I recommend is a home based business where you can work the hours you want from anywhere. Check it out here and watch the short video. Retirement Options Video

In conclusion, relying solely on Social Security for retirement income can be risky. While Social Security provides a valuable safety net for retirees, it may not provide enough income to cover all of your expenses in retirement. In addition, the program may not be around forever, benefits may be taxed, and they may not keep up with inflation. Retirees who need long-term care may need to rely on other sources of income, and working in retirement may result in a reduction in Social Security benefits. To mitigate these risks, it is important to have other sources of retirement income, such as personal savings, pensions, or retirement accounts. Working with a financial advisor can help you create a retirement plan that takes into account your unique circumstances and helps you achieve your retirement goals.

Thanks for reading!

Mark Balderrama

Retirement

How To Add Income Streams to Improve Your Retirement Plan

Retirement is a phase of life that most people look forward to with great anticipation. It is a time when you can relax, travel, spend time with family and friends, and pursue hobbies and interests that you may have put on hold during your working years. However, to truly enjoy your retirement, you need financial stability. One of the most effective ways to achieve this stability is to have multiple income streams.

What Are Multiple Income Streams? Multiple income streams are sources of income that you have in addition to your primary source of income, such as your job. They can come from a variety of sources, such as rental properties, dividends from investments, royalties from creative work, or income from a side business. Having multiple income streams means that you are not relying solely on one source of income, which can be risky, especially during retirement.

Why Are Multiple Income Streams Important for Improving Your Retirement?

There are several reasons why having multiple income streams is important for improving your retirement:

  1. Increased Financial Security One of the most significant benefits of having multiple income streams is increased financial security. When you have diversified income sources, you spread the risk and minimize the impact of any negative event on one source of income. For example, if you rely solely on your pension, any changes to the pension plan could severely impact your retirement. But if you have other sources of income such as rental properties, investments, or a side business, you have a safety net that provides financial security.
  2. Better Retirement Lifestyle Having multiple income streams can help you maintain your lifestyle during retirement. When you have more than one source of income, you can ensure that you have enough money to cover all your expenses and indulge in activities that you enjoy. This can include travel, hobbies, and other leisure activities. It also gives you the flexibility to adjust your expenses according to your income, making it easier to live comfortably.
  3. Protection Against Inflation Inflation is a reality that affects everyone, including retirees. Having multiple income streams helps to protect against inflation as different income streams can have different inflation rates. For example, rental income may increase with inflation, while interest income may remain constant. By having multiple sources of income, you can protect yourself against inflation and ensure that your income keeps pace with rising expenses.
  4. Higher Savings Multiple income streams also allow you to save more for retirement. When you have more than one source of income, you can allocate a portion of each income stream towards savings. This not only helps you build a larger retirement corpus but also ensures that you have a cushion for emergencies or unexpected expenses during retirement.
  5. Increased Flexibility Having multiple income streams gives you the flexibility to retire on your own terms. You may not need to rely on a single source of income to retire. You can retire when you want, and how you want. You may choose to work part-time or start a small business during retirement to supplement your income. Multiple income streams give you the freedom to make these choices and have a more fulfilling retirement.

How to Build Multiple Income Streams

Building multiple income streams takes time and effort, but it is well worth it. Here are some strategies to help you build multiple income streams:

  1. Invest in Real Estate Real estate can be a great source of passive income during retirement. You can buy rental properties that generate rental income or invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs) that provide regular dividends.
  2. Invest in the Stock Market Investing in the stock market can be a great way to build wealth and generate income. You can invest in dividend-paying stocks that provide regular income or growth stocks that can appreciate over time.
  3. Start a Side Business Starting a side business can be a great way to supplement your income during retirement. You can start a business that leverages your time and experience.

In my opinion I think a great business that is low risk is a home based business.

There are many advantages to having a home-based business, including:

  1. Lower Overhead Costs One of the biggest advantages of having a home-based business is lower overhead costs. With a home-based business, you do not need to rent or purchase a separate office space, which can be a significant expense. You can also save money on commuting costs, as you do not need to travel to work every day.
  2. More Flexibility A home-based business provides more flexibility than a traditional office-based job. You can set your own hours and work when it is convenient for you. This can be particularly helpful if you have other commitments, such as childcare or caring for an elderly relative.
  3. Increased Work-Life Balance Having a home-based business can also provide an increased work-life balance. You can work from home, which means you do not need to spend time commuting to and from work. This can give you more time to spend with your family and pursue hobbies and interests outside of work. Additionally, you can set your own schedule, which allows you to balance your work and personal life more effectively.

To review my personal recommendation for the best home based business that can be built anywhere and anytime, even online if you want! Watch the short video and see for yourself HERE!

Thanks for Reading and consider subscribing!

Mark Balderrama

Me and Twister!
MLM and Network Marketing Training

LiveGood Review: Best Opportunity for 2023 and Beyond

You may have heard about a company called LiveGood. They are revolutionizing the industry and have a simple, but powerful mission:

Our Mission is Simple

To Help People Get Healthy, And Stay Healthy Without Having To Spend A Fortune To Do It.

This company is changing the Network Marketing Industry by fixing all the problems most people have with this type of business model. Namely:

  1. High Enrollment Cost
  2. Mandatory Autoship to earn bonuses
  3. Overpriced Products
  4. Recruiting or Referral requirements to bonus
  5. Old school traditional contacting and inviting methods
  6. Mandatory costly “Educational Support System” to Rank or Bonus

Breaking The Paradigm

LiveGood has changed the thought process on network marketing by creating a Membership Model and a Forced 2 x 15 Matrix. I have been involved in MLM since 1989 off and on and have never seen anything like it. Like the LiveGood CEO Ben Glinksy says “When you get it. You get it!”

The time of being forced to promote and sell overpriced products is over. In today’s economy it just doesn’t work. People are looking for multiple income streams and they want to work remotely. LiveGood is built on simple concept called a Membership Club Model. You pay a small one time fee to join the “club” then $9.95 a month to have Member pricing to an amazing group of best in class health and wellness products.

Of course you also get your own business, back office and compensation plan to support a six or seven figure income if so desired. Of course you can “just” build the business or “just” buy the low priced-high quality products. There is no requirement to do either and you still can earn upto $2047 per month. Even if you did not refer a single person or buy a single product. That’s unheard of right. You can see for yourself HERE.

Proud Of Being In Network Marketing-Really?

LiveGood is growing fast with a business model that people can finally be proud of. The reason most people quit is because; how can you go to your friends and family and in good conscience try to convince them to buy overpriced products that they can get elsewhere for less just so you can build a business.

It’s a hard proposition to sustain. In another case the people we are trying to help the most are those who absolutely need the extra income and definitely need the products to maintain their health. How can we expect that person to spend money on an autoship of overpriced products; and possibly a educational support system just so they can earn an extra income. This is why most people don’t make an real money in network marketing and eventually quit because it is hard to sustain it. The priority of paying the bills comes first for 99% of people.

With LiveGood it is easy to be proud to share the business opportunity and products because the average product cost is comparable to Costco and 80% less than other network marketing companies.

Finally Making Money!

For many LiveGood members they are making money for the first time in a network marketing business. Why? Because they are proud and it’s easy to build when it just makes sense.

🤑If you would like to take a FREE tour of LiveGood Click Here

Thanks for reading!

Mark Balderrama

Best Network Marketing Companies, MLM and Network Marketing Training, Network Marketing For Engineers

Been in Amway Before? Then You Will Understand This!

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Welcome back. I wanted to talk about my experiences back when I was in Amway. In 1989, that’s when I first got started in it actually, and I was in it for over 10 year. And I was thinking about it this morning. I don’t know why. But, you know, I was thinking about a couple people back in the day that I worked with while I was in Amway. When I got involved in in network marketing, with Amway, I didn’t have a negative viewpoint on it. I didn’t know anything about the company when I was presented with the opportunity. I didn’t know anything about network marketing, but I thought what a great business concept this is and you know, we started learning more and building our business.

QUIXTAR

What happened over the course of time, was that the company got handed to the second generation and some good things happened when they made this next step to what they called Quixtar which was same company but under a different name. And they started moving towards online shopping concepts and more of a digital age. I remember having a little miniature CD that had a little video embedded into it was called the digital business card. I still have some laying around. And I thought what an amazing concept. This was back in the beginning when the internet was really brand new. I mean, we still had dial up Internet access, if you could believe that. And most people probably don’t even know what dial up Internet access is. It’s still a classic sound that is used if you ever saw the movie, you’ve got mail.  with actors, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. They would email each other and have the dial up sound of the modem. And it was really unreliable and slow. And so, I kind of looked at it where we were ahead of our time, because many people didn’t trust online shopping. And they were afraid to put their credit card number in because somebody might, you know, get ahold of it and their personal information and people were very unsure about it. And I think back, you know, to those times, I thought, while we were on the cutting edge. I’d already been in Amway about five years by the time that started happening. And then they kind of messed up, you know, the second generation of the family that owns the Amway Corporation took over and things got kind of messed up.

MORE CHANGES

At the same timeframe, we had changes going on in our own lives, you know, and so, what I found was is that the network marketing business was fantastic, that business concept is still great. And that’s why billions of dollars are done in network marketing today. I mean, more than the NFL, the movie industry and many others combined. Network Marketing produces billions and billions of dollars. Look it up. It’s pretty impressive. There’s nothing wrong with the business concept, multilevel marketing, network marketing, it’s the same thing. But what usually screws it up are the people. You know, you look at it. I mean, we had a pretty good organization, we reached a higher level than the Amway business. And, you know, we didn’t reach financial freedom at that point in time. We weren’t diamond level or anything like that. But that was our goal. And we’re working towards it. What we found interesting over time was is that the business that was our own, it was supposed to be our own. We didn’t get to make any of the decisions in it. You know, we had an upline that was controlling what we were doing, what we could do, what we can’t do. And I’ll give you a key example of it. I was thinking about it this morning, and I think about my time in the Amway business so often and it’s mostly positive, but there are some negatives.

COLD CONTACTING? REALLY?

You know, there was a lot of things about the business concept that were fantastic, majority of them, frankly. But a lot of the people had methods that I just wasn’t comfortable with. And I found most people weren’t. I’ll give you one good example cold contacting after you’ve, shared the Amway business with your friends and family, one of two things usually happens and sometimes some of both, your friends and family either start to ignore you and avoid you, or some of them get involved with you. And you find out that they have a negative idea of Amway, and in some cases, even some family members or friends start to think that maybe you’re better than them because you’re trying to improve yourself or your situation. And I always cracked up about that. None of those people ever came to save the day for me and my family when we were having financial difficulties. But all of them had an opinion about what I shouldn’t be doing to make more money and be more successful. And yet, you know, I didn’t listen to any of them because none of them were actually paying my bills or even offered to help financially. So, if you’re in that situation, you know, look at it and think about that for a second, why listen to people that are not supporting you, financially, or helping you financially? Why should you be discouraged about doing something that improves your family’s financial future? One of the things that came out of that process is you had to learn how to cold contact, because after your friends and families, seeing the business or did refuse to see the business, whatever the case may be, you have to talk to people that you don’t know. And this is the thing here, they teach you methods that are very difficult for the average person to use. You have to be able to talk to people that you don’t know and approach people, cold and so forth. And I got very good at doing that. But they always had a thing called duplication. Everything you had to do had to be duplicatable. I used to think about it and I thought what about cold contacting is duplicatable? Frankly, nobody duplicates it. Very few do, only the leaders do. And there’s few of those, why does it have to be so difficult? And Isn’t there another way to do it?

ARE YOU PLUGGED IN?

And, you know, you really had no wiggle room to innovate or to do your own thing you had to follow the system. If you weren’t “plugged in”, then you kind of get shunned by the upline, and then they would go around you and, you know, talk to people in your group negatively about you and say that you weren’t plugged in, and it’s just a bunch of crap. And it’s amazing people start getting into a position of what they call leadership. But really, they’re not leaders. They’re just people that want to control everything, and getting your own business is about you controlling what you do and controlling your future and deciding to work when you want to and work the way you want to. Now there’s some exceptions to that. I believe in my opinion, and in my business, you need to be ethical, honest, and you have to be able to build with the right intentions. So, there are some limits there. But the as far as flexibility and innovation, I mean, that’s what people want when they start their own business. Yes, they want a pattern for success that they can follow. They can follow their leadership; they can follow their leaders into success and do the same thing that they did to get them successful. I mean, it always made sense to me. If you wanted to be a millionaire, you need to find someone who’s willing to teach you and do what they did. And you always had that opportunity. What I found over the years was that I got very discouraged with the network marketing business and Amway not with the concept but with the people. After a while you started feeling guilty, you know, as you’re in the business for 10 plus years, things change, you know, you have children, your life changes, but if you weren’t able to be as committed as other people, you may not be able to do everything you did before. I always love this; right? My main upline was in Utah, and they’d hold their functions in their own backyard, basically in in their city in Salt Lake City, Utah. And make everybody feel like crap and guilty that couldn’t spend money or time to travel to Salt Lake City to be at their major function. It was very convenient for them, but they’d make it inconvenient for everybody else and then treat you like dirt if you couldn’t be there because you didn’t have time off from work, or you couldn’t afford the travel or you had childcare issues, and they weren’t very understanding. And I thought this is not about people caring about people. This is about people that care about people that do what you say. And I don’t like that. That’s not what individual business ownership is about. So, I kind of got burned out for a long time on the idea of dealing with this because I saw several other opportunities over the years and they all have the same kind of what I call old school thinking. Do what your upline tells you or else. And if you don’t, you’re not plugged in. If you’re not plugged in, we’re not going to support or promote your opportunity meetings or your business or work in your downline or whatnot. And I thought that’s a bunch of Crap.

WHY NOT TWO LEGS, NOT SIX?

The other difficulty is, is that we had to build six legs to be a diamond level and who had time outside of working a job to build six legs? Especially here I live in California. So, you know you need a substantial income to retire from your job if you live back in the Midwest, that’s at this time or back east, and you weren’t already a successful professional with a lifestyle that revolved around that income that you were earning. And you made $40,000 a year, it wasn’t that difficult to make $40k a year in Amway and retire as a diamond without a big organization, and then try to help other people retire. Unfortunately, it takes a whole heck of a lot more people to retire at a six-figure income for a working professional in Southern California at the time, and it’s no different today, frankly, in many other states as well. So, there was a lot of unrelatability between a lot of these old school network marketers.

STILL OLD SCHOOL-YIKES!

So, over the time, I started looking for new opportunities. And I thought, you know, the best kind of opportunity is one where it’s not a set of corporate people that own the business and run the business at a corporate level. It’s about a company that’s been started, owned and operated by network marketers that understand what the challenges are, and have built a company and organizational structure and training system around the needs of the network marketer, the distributor or the affiliate, the representative that whatever your term is. And finally, after several years of looking, I thought I found that and there was a very successful network marketing person from the old Amway days who was in my upline and that was involved in that business. And the products were fantastic and they still are, I use several of them every day. However, the building style of the business is still old school, they’re still doing it the old school way. And because they have a replicated website, they think that that’s modern and the fact that’s like, you know, 10 years old technology, and they have a canned app. And you know, nobody knows how to use attraction marketing, social media. They don’t have any of the things that we have in our business that actually work, especially when people are doing things on their cell phone more and more, and tablets, laptops and their computers. And during this time when you’re under a stay at home, or how do you expand your business when you’re old school and you got to go have home meetings, one on ones, open opportunity meetings? How do you even get people to go to those things when they are allowed?

NEW SCHOOL-FINALLY!

We build our business without any of those things. We have a network marketing business that’s successful with a system that is a “done for you” marketing system provided by the company for free. It doesn’t cost money to enroll in the business. It doesn’t cost money for the training system, because you want everybody to be successful. You provide that equally to everybody, not just the ones who could afford $24.95 a month. And then that’s just to buy the privilege for you to be able to buy the tools and things. And the reason why, is that there’s a lot of money in the training and tool system in network marketing. And in the business that I checked out for a short period of time, the person who’s running that training system, he’s got everybody locked into it. And basically, it’s the same old school thinking, if you’re not plugged into that training system, then you basically you can’t build your business successfully. And in fact, if you’re not part of that system, you can’t rank advance. What it was a scheme that is, I mean, that’s crazy, right? And then they don’t even give you the tools to be successful. And so, we work in a business that doesn’t have any of those restrictions. If you were in Amway before, or any network marketing company that this sounds familiar. You need to look around because what we’re doing; and there are other companies doing it too, that are started by network marketers having fast growth, great products, free training systems that are current up to date, and constantly being improved and evolved with the changing marketplace, the changing needed the distributors. And it’s unbelievable. That business that I was in for a very short period of time, they haven’t had a new product in a year. And they haven’t updated their methodology for building it since they started. They’re still doing what they did five years ago. And look at the comparison in growth. They haven’t grown. They probably have 20,000 distributors worldwide. And the company that I’m working with now we have over 800,000 in the same period of time. So, the numbers tell the story. It’s not about one master distributor making a lot of money. It’s about everybody being able to make a significant income and you just have to look at the compensation plans to get the opportunities.

THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY IS HERE

So, if you have been in Amway or other businesses before and you loved certain aspects of it. Don’t give up on that concept that concept works but you do have to work a little harder to find companies that are doing it right. That are using methods that allow people that are already searching for opportunity to find you. That’s what I do and that’s what I teach my team. We work with attraction marketing, you know, I don’t cold contact. People that are already looking are able to find me and the opportunity and that’s the key and nobody has to cold contact. What’s more duplicatable than that? Because cold contacting is not duplicatable when people don’t actually do it and don’t feel comfortable doing it or they don’t ever get really good at doing it. How can you duplicate that? If one out of 10 and it’s probably not even that high, actually would do cold contacting successfully and comfortably and also key here, confidently. How duplicatable is that? Who wants to enroll 10 people that maybe only one out of 10, or one out of 20 even will be successful at duplicating that? And the process of “let’s just have them, enroll a few friends and family” and then hopefully, you know, they keep doing that until you find a leader is so much harder and takes so much work. And it doesn’t stay together. If you have to teach people how to do something that they don’t like doing, and that they won’t do; the business is not sustainable. And I was part of a group that had well over 800,000 people in the group, not my group, but I was part of that team. And that whole team is completely gone! That 800,000 plus people and the team of that person in Amway doesn’t exist anymore. And it wasn’t sustainable. And there was a lot of reasons for that. But we got out of that business and for over a decade I still was looking and thinking and wondering god you know, there’s got to be a network marketing business that’s awesome. That is run right and is done right. That’s what we’re doing today. And that’s what we’re teaching people how to be successful using new methods online. It works beautiful during the stay at home order, because people are still reaching out last month 24 or 25 people I sponsored personally, in the business and I did not chase a single one of them, they all found me and wanted to get involved. So, it’s a completely different thing.

RESEARCH AND EVALUATE

So, if you want to understand more about it, I’m happy to share with you if you don’t want to get involved in what we’re doing. I totally get it but I’m not pushing for anybody. Obviously, I’ve got so many things to do. Right now, I don’t know how many people I could work with at the moment. It’s really been crazy because a lot of people are looking and they want to do something from home in a home-based business. But I’m happy to answer questions and if you do have time and you want to look at the opportunity and ask some questions after you check out a couple of key videos HERE. I’m happy to talk to you about it. I just want to share those experiences if you are an old network marketer, and I don’t mean old age, but you’ve done the old school way, and you love certain aspects of the business, like Amway and others out there. I don’t need to name them because I wasn’t part of them. But you know, the ones we’re talking about. Things are different. And you just have to find the right opportunity for you. If you love what you’re doing in companies like Amway, then stay with that group. You don’t want to be jumping around, but if you’re looking, you’ve been uncomfortable, you felt guilty. If you feel bad about yourself, then, you know, make some changes, at least do some research, you need to make sure you’re always educating and keeping going. Like I said, if some of the key people in Amway are no longer in it, and they were at very, very high levels, making millions of dollars a year and they’re no longer in that business. And we were part of that team of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people. You got to ask yourself, are there good reasons for that? And yes, there are. Things are changing, and they have changed. Some people haven’t realized that yet. But if you’re looking for something new, it’s out there, and you can find it. And we’ll help you to do that in any way we can.

We really appreciate you. Appreciate you guys reading these articles. And if you like what we’re putting out, remember to like and subscribe because it means a lot to us. It really does. I love seeing new subscribers and new likes. And if you have negative comments and you didn’t like something, I’m okay with that too. That’s how I learn and I need that feedback. So, appreciate it. Have a great day. Stay well, we’ll talk to you next time. Bye bye.

Discover a Simple Business that Pays a Full Time Income from Home

Thanks for reading!

Mark Balderrama

MARK

Best Home Based Businesses, Best Network Marketing Companies, Hempworx

How to Start Your Own CBD Business

There has been a lot of interest in CBD Oil to help people with lingering pain, anxiety and other issues that seem to plague us as humans as we grow older. There is also a lot of news on how CBD can help your pets. I have seen first hand the benefits of this for my dogs and have written about it here.

Many people are also looking into the business opportunity side of CBD Oil. There has been quite a lot of press lately about the booming industry of CBD, but not a lot about how to start your own business. Let’s address one of the best ways to do that.

Brick and Mortar?

This not the best way to do it actually. There are a lot of regulations when you start a conventional business. Additionally there are significant costs involved. I know my ideal business does not have these things in it. Storefronts, buildings, employees, inventory, insurance, book keeping, large investments, long pay back periods, sourcing products, marketing, sales and stress.

When you really evaluate what you are looking to achieve I don’t think many people will want to start this way. Let’s see what is the best way to do this!

Best Way to Start

In my opinion the best way to begin is to evaluate the CBD products and companies that offer you an option to start a network marketing business with their products.

This allows you the best option and the lowest risk. With this you have no large investment and you don’t have to figure out any of the stuff listed above.

For under $100 you can start building your own business right away. You get the same tax benefits and income earning potential without all the trouble and stress.

Think how fast you can become profitable with this type of business! You can make your initial investment back in a week! Then it’s all profit from there.

For some people it is not a “real” business unless they put everything on the line, including their home. That is an old way of thinking that still happens today.

Now it is about working smarter not harder. Why risk everything when you can be successful faster and with a minimal downside?

Network Marketing Business? What is it exactly?

The simplest way I can explain this, is like this. You know how you will tell a friend about a great restaurant you found or a great movie you saw? You tell them how they should try it, or see it because you just know they will love it as much as you do.

So the next week they go and eat at the restaurant and they in fact do love it! When you referred your friend, did the restaurant send you a thank you card with money in it for helping them get a new customer and grow their business? Nope.

Then your friend tells someone they know about the restaurant they just loved and then they go too. Just by your word of mouth promotion of this restaurant they gained two customers and increased their business again.

YOU received nothing other than good feeling about how you helped your friends out.

Everyone does this either in person or on social media, but not many get paid a referral fee for it. In Network Marketing it works exactly the same except everyone can earn a little bit from these referrals.

You Are Already Doing It

As we have already covered, everyone is already doing this. You are a consumer and you already share with others how great what you have discovered is. Now it’s time to get paid along the way.

This business is very easy. You just share what your experiences are with the CBD products with people who you believe it can help. Some of those will be interested in learning about how they can also earn while sharing and now you’ve got a business started. Hers is the fastest way to get it started. Take the Free Tour First!

This is the Hottest MLM Right Now! Click for a Free Tour!

Thanks for reading!

Mark Balderrama

dogs at halloween 2018

Best Home Based Businesses, Personal Finance, Retirement

Why You Should Have A Retirement Income

Retirement worries couple

If you are thinking about your retirement days you probably have the same worries as most of us do. How much income do I need and how can I save that much?

How Much Income Do I Need?

There are many retirement calculators out there, but it is sometimes very disappointing to find out you cannot afford to save as much as they say you will need to. In any case most people live paycheck to paycheck and we don’t hardly stop to think about exactly how much we need to retire on. Most experts have you factoring in that you will spend less in your retirement years, but is that really accurate?

First, figure out what lifestyle you want to live. If it’s the same as you have now while you are working; then that may require some additional income streams to be able to provide it. If you really look at the cost of living you will get a better picture of what things will cost in the future. Don’t use the government inflation rates as they are not accurate when it comes to things people really buy. Things like food, gasoline, heating oil, electricity and health care. Those items seem to go up continually at a rate that far exceeds the annual inflation rate. So you need to prepare for that.

Additional Income Streams

For many people the amount of retirement savings and investments will not add up to enough for them to live the desired lifestyle when they retire. In some case they may not be able to retire at all.

Financial experts seem to only talk about two options. Save more and live on less. Both of these are fine ideas but there is another option to add into that plan. Start your own online or home based business. Many people do not consider this option because they assume you have to go into debt or quit your job to be able to start and run a profitable business.

That’s just not the case anymore

Today for less than $100 you can start and own your own business. Having a second stream of income outside of your job is smart on more than one level. Yes it can be used to supplement your current job income. It also can be sent directly into your retirement vehicle. Or you can simply use it to reduce your debt. Pay off your home early or just save it.

The great news is that after you retire from your employer you can continue to grow your business and that income can grow to greatly supplement your retirement income. It may even surpass it one day.

Early Retirement

For some people retirement means doing nothing but hanging around their home and for others it means traveling the world. Some people think that when someone retires they don’t do anything anymore. I think that’s not a very accurate depiction of the retirement years today. The old mentality of old people sitting in rocking chairs at Shady Acres Rest Home is a long way from most peoples retirement goals.

What if you had enough income to retire early what would that be worth to you?  What if you could retire from your job 5 years early? Or even just 2 years? There are now tens of thousands of people who are growing various online and home based business opportunities. There are websites and even magazines dedicated to helping people find a business opportunity that can be built in your spare time. Some of the best are discussed in my other article here.

For most people today, retirement means freedom; to do what they want. When they want. There is no doubt that you will now have the time. But will you have the money?

Time and Money

Start to consider the current retirement plan you have. If you don’t have one start looking at what you need to do. Many banks and even your employer can help you get started.

It can be pretty scary to finally face the reality that you need to have more income to really have the retirement lifestyle you want. Both Time and Money!

If you look around many people who have a lot of time, don’t have any money. Likewise the people who have a lot of money don’t have a lot of free time.

Set your goals to have both, in your retirement years! That’s why we work so hard right?

Lets recap:

#1 identify your desired Retirement Lifestyle

#2 Evaluate your current retirement plans to see if it matches up to #1

#3 Adjust the plan as needed. Not the goal. Keep your goals and adjust your plans, always.

#4 Set up additional income streams if needed

Don’t give up. Just keep thinking and learning about what the options are and how you can achieve your goals. Then make a decision and get started.

If you are interested in learning more about one of the best home based business options we have found take the Free tour!

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Thanks for reading!

Mark Balderrama

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MLM and Network Marketing Training

The Advantages of Building an Offline and Online Network Marketing Business

There are advantages to building your network marketing business both, offline and online. The old way is what I call offline. It still works and it is the best way to share your business opportunity with your friends and family.

Offline?

What exactly is offline building? This is what I call the old way of building the network marketing business. It typically means you will be talking to your friends, family and maybe even your close coworkers about your new business and what great products you have available. This is usually done because your upline or sponsor has asked you to make a names list and talk to everyone on it. They may even be willing to help you show the business plan.

It could also mean having a home meeting an inviting everyone you know to it. This is how I saw my first network marketing plan. I was invited to a house where I was the only person who was not in the business already. It was very awkward with a guy showing the business plan details on a white board. But it worked, I did get in the business and eventually built a large business.

It can mean having a open opportunity meeting at a hotel meeting room where everyone in the area can invite prospects to it. This helps to make everyone a bit more comfortable because they are not alone and can blend in. It can also backfire if you and your team don’t invite people and assume someone else will do it. The new prospect sees no one new at the meeting, getting excited about the business and figures no one else wants to join so how can they build this thing.  I suggest waiting until you have a team of builders that can ensure you can have a good turn out. This will help build belief that what you are doing is catching fire and exploding. That can be very helpful. If done wrong it can wipe out your group.

These methods can work well if done correctly to work with your friends, family and even warm market.

Cold Market is another thing all together and working offline takes a lot of time. It means that you will be talking to a lot of people you don’t know yet. You will need to get comfortable at this or you will not be able to grow your business. In my experience this is where most initially excited, network marketers start to fade away. It can be very difficult for the introverted person; like me, to build using this method. I spent a lot of time learning how to do this. It involves contacting, setting up 1 on 1 meetings and following up. I also went to a lot of  “no shows” over the years. I did get really good eventually. I was even able to set meetings up by calling people out of the phone book. Not fun but it does work.

It just a numbers game

This offline approach can work well, and in fact has made many millionaires this way. It just boils down to a numbers game. If you are very good at contacting then lets say you need to talk with 15 cold contacts to set one meeting to show the plan. Lets say half of those show up. That’s 8. Then you actually get a follow-up meeting with half of those. That’s 4. Then 1 of those gets involved in your business and starts duplicating what you did. If you need 5-6 leaders then you need to talk with more than 90 people.

Can you do that?  Will your numbers be that good? Do you have the time?What are the options? Quit or find another way right?

Online?

This is where things have really changed from year past. Now we don’t walk the malls looking for people to prospect. They find us now.

Today when you want to find something, fix something or learn something, what do you do? You search for it online, right? It does not matter what it is; you can find it online now. You can buy a car, a pizza, groceries, you name it.

Today you can even find business opportunities, and that how they will find you too.

You can use your social media skills and your YouTube videos and other online methods of attracting people who are looking and hoping for a great home business or online business opportunity. How would you feel when they come to you instead, of you going to them? It should completely take the fear out of it for one thing. Who can’t answer questions they are asked or share the business plan or compensation plan with someone who asked you? The fact is everyone can work an online business and promote their product and/or opportunity.

How many of you have watched the TV show Shark Tank? It always amazes me how some business owner will come on and say they have sold millions of dollars in products online only using only Amazon, or their website or social media. NO brick and mortar store needed. You can do the same with your network marketing business too!

You can literally reach millions of people and generate 30-40 leads a day. These are people who are looking and can now find you.

If you would like to learn more or join our team we will teach you all of these methods. Just complete a brief form and take the tour of our business site. Its Free!

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Thanks for reading!

Mark Balderrama

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Best Network Marketing Companies, MLM and Network Marketing Training

Amway made a lot of millionaires now there’s something new

I joined Amway in 1989. A high school friend of mine called me and asked me a simple question. “Was I interested in making an extra $2000 per month?” who would say no to that question, right?  I was about to get married and had a lot of expenses and was struggling to move up in my career as a R & D Engineer. I was invited to see the “plan” at his home. Later during the “follow up” I spent about an hour arguing with my friend that it could not work. Eventually he said “fine then don’t join”.

That really made me mad; him telling me I shouldn’t do something I want to do. Wait a minute here, now I want to do this? I remember telling him I’m going to do this just to show you it can’t work. Really dumb statement, I know.

I started to learn about how to build the network marketing business by sharing with my friends and family. Some of them actually joined us and we had a great time together. Then I moved on to the warm contacts. These were people that I worked with and knew from the past but did not have a current close relationship with. Then last but not least the dreaded “cold contacts”. We wrote a script and would call people we met during visits to shops and to the mall, looking at cars, whatever & whenever. Clearly this was the largest group of people and in fact many of the leaders in the group came from cold contacting.

We were following the examples and teachings of the leaders that were in my upline. Don Wilson and Randy Haugen. These people had reached a level of success we all wanted. They were millionaires many times over. They taught us how to do what they did and to build good size teams. It worked too! These leaders became very successful in Amway and we reached some levels of success as well.

Around 2001 Amway they created Quixtar. It was intended to be an online business concept where all customers could order online. You could enroll online and you had  a back office and all. This was going to revolutionize the business and I think the idea was a good one. Just a bit premature. Especially since we all only had “dial up” internet access. It was very slow and many people did not have access. We left Quixtar in 2003 and in 2007, Amway got rid of the name and went back to the name Amway Global.

What’s New Today?

A couple of years ago I started looking for the best network marketing companies today, and there are several.  I wanted to get back involved in this form of business because I had been involved in running conventional businesses over the last 20 years and really missed the focus on working as a team, helping other people, building something of your own and having unlimited earning potential. Plus there is no other business that allows you to duplicate your time as easily.

Now with virtually everyone having access to high speed internet service, cellphones in everyone’s hand, and constant social media viewing the network marketing business needs to change as well. There are still people trying to build the “old” way with face to face marketing and there is nothing wrong with it, if it works for you. What I have found is that people are moving at a faster pace than ever. It’s hard to get their attention and keep it, long enough to share the opportunity with them.

I felt that the network marketing building methods had to change somehow to take advantage of the current culture of being online and accessing social media almost continually.  Today we don’t call it “cold contacting” we call it “lead generation” and the whole process is flipped upside down from what we used to do.

In the old days we would ask a cold contact “if they have considered other business ideas” or “have you thought about owning your own business?”, or something similar. Sometimes we would hand out business cards or collect them. I even taught people in my group how to call people out of the phone book. I cannot believe that we used to do that. Wow! It worked but it was not for the faint of heart. Most people were deathly afraid of talking about a business opportunity to someone they don’t know face to face. Or even over the telephone. It was very hard to help people who said they don’t know anyone else, other than their broke brother in-law and their best friend who just got out of jail and really needs the business.

Frequently we would waste our time talking to someone who was not interested in doing something else other than working their job. They did not have a dream or goal to own their own business. Some just were not thinking of the future, just wanting to get by paycheck by paycheck.

Today we don’t need to ask people who are not looking. Today we make sure people who are looking can find us. By using social media, videos, websites and blogs we can draw in people who are searching just the way I was a few years ago. We have automated marketing systems and we can reach out to a much larger audience of “pre-qualified” people. I call them that because they are already clearly looking and they may be open to what your business opportunity is all about.

Once they locate you and join your team you just teach them the methods you use and so on. Now I am simplifying it a bit because we use some special tools and methods that only people who join our team get to use. However the principle is still the same.

Times continue to change so I plan to adapt to them in my network marketing business and continually improve. This is what will provide sustainability for years to come.

Discover a Simple Business that Pays a Full Time Income from Home

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Mark Balderrama

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Best Home Based Businesses, Best Network Marketing Companies, Gen X Passive Income, MLM and Network Marketing Training

The best way to make contacts in Network Marketing

I was involved in network marketing in the early 90’s and the way we built our network marketing business was initially by talking to our friends and family about the business and the products. A few of them decided to get involved with us and it actually worked out pretty good. With that start we built a good size team and were able to help others in our group achieve some of their goals as well.

Eventually we all run out of names on the friends and family list and need to work with our warm market. These are the folks we know as acquaintances. Some of these people are working with you or are involved with you in some fashion. For example the person who you see everyday at work. The pest service guy, the same person at the gym you go to who you’ve been talking to but don’t invite over to your home.

Talking to these people can be intimidating initially because now you are in a business of your own and it seems awkward. It didn’t before when you would talk about the weather or something in the news, right?  So what do you say now?

Remember they didn’t ask you to show them your business straight out. You have to listen to people. They tell you things that allow you to see how you can help them. Listen to what they complain about. Then you can offer a solution. Don’t be surprised if some people are not really interested in solving the issues they complain about. Some people just like having something to complain about. Don’t be upset, just move on.

Remember you have something to change their life for the better. You don’t have to feel bad about yourself because they were not interested. Feel bad for them, because they don’t see what you see…yet. Come back to them later. like in a few months or a year as things can “open” their window.

The next group of possible contacts is the cold market. These are people who you don’t know yet. I say “yet” because you will have to get to know them if you want to work together. There are many ways to do this today compared to the “old” days in network marketing. We used to go to shopping malls, look at stuff and meet people. We would gather business cards, we would hand out business cards too. I even taught people how to call people out of the telephone book. Wow! I don’t miss those days.

Today we use many different methods like social media, online ads and videos to generate interest. One of the problems I saw my team in the 90’s do, was to not pre-qualify the contact. They would start offering the business opportunity before they determined if they were even open to something other than what they were doing. Believe it or not, not everyone is, just because you decided to build a big network marketing business now.

Timing is everything. Using today’s methods it allows the people who are interested in  a business of their own to find you. This is the best of all worlds as the people who are led to you, are already interested in what you are doing. This makes it much easier to share the details and help them get started on the path to learning more.

Putting it all together today still takes work. It is just a different kind of work. When I started my MLM business again two years ago , I started the same as I had before. Except I skipped my friends and family this time around. No one was interested anyways. Weird how the people closest to you are the least supportive sometimes, right?

I was talking face to face to a lot of warm and cold contacts and not having much success really. It also took a ton of time. I started researching how to generate mlm leads and started looking for leaders in today’s network marketing and was fortunate to find some leaders who are doing it right. I just started following their examples and learned as much as possible from them. I am still learning actually and that’s a good thing.

If you want to learn more, consider joining my team and we will share with you specific, tested methods that work to grow your business. Take the free tour and learn more now!

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Mark Balderrama

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Best Home Based Businesses, Best Network Marketing Companies, MLM and Network Marketing Training

HOW DO YOU BUILD MLM? ACT LIKE YOU ARE A BUSINESS OWNER

investment4If you are serious about building a network marketing business you need to treat it as a big business from the start. This means you need to invest both time and money into making it successful.

How Much Should I Invest?

Many people treat MLM or network marketing as a small, part time business that I should not have to invest money into kind of thing. Not sure why that is, but it’s not the best way to build it.

In conventional businesses people will invest thousands of dollars into a building, signage, advertising, employees, inventory, insurance etc. before they have even opened their doors or made a single dollar.

Yet when they start their MLM business they seem to be reluctant to invest anything. It takes only two things to build a business of any kind: Time or Money and most times, both. If you have no money then you must invest your time and do so at a high level.

Expectations

You cannot expect to spend 40-50 hours per week for your employer and then spend 1 hour a week building you own business and expect the money to just flood in. Set time aside and be consistent in your daily business investment of time.

Additionally the MLM business does require some investment in the form of money. You will be using it for different things than a conventional business because we don’t need any of the traditional things. In network marketing you invest money into lead generation, advertising, and learning more about business meaning it’s an investment in your own education. Like with anything new, you need to invest time and effort.

If you already knew how to start and build a successful MLM you would have one already right? If you are looking to grow your MLM to the next level then invest again. So don’t be afraid of investing in your own business and in yourself. Ultimately it’s for you and your family.

Tax Deductible?

Remember that you are a real business owner and you are entitled to the real benefits available to you. Many of your business investments and expenses are tax deductible. Advertising, Lead Generating activities, meetings, educational expenses, meals and mile may all be deductible and reduce the amount of taxes you have to pay at during tax time. Check with your tax preparer to get the list of qualified item. You don’t get to write off your expense you incur while you are going back and forth to work do you?

So remember the money you invest pays you in more than one way now. It helps you grow your business and saves you money at tax time. Think about how great that is!

Small thinking versus big thinking

OK, here’s we we get personal a bit. Are you ready?

You are, where you are in life based on the way you think. It’s not the circumstances or your upbringing or someone else’s  fault here. You need to change the way you think about how you are spending your time and money. If you want to be a millionaire listen to one and do what they did. Just follow their success pattern.

You don’t need to do what they do for a business to benefit from their methods and thinking. Watch Marcus Lemonis on the the TV show “The Profit”. It is a really great show that teaches you about a lot of excellent and valuable business principles and methods and shows the right and wrong way to think about business. It is also very fun an entertaining at the same time!

If you are really interested in building a six figure income in network marketing then you have to change the way you think about investing . Give your own business as much as you can. It pays off in the next 2-5 years in the business and the investment in your education is your for life. You will take that everywhere.

If you want to be making $10,000 per month or more you need to align your thinking with people who do.

Think Big. Earn Big.

Small investment versus a big investment

Remember you don’t need a big investment to start your REAL network marketing business. It costs anywhere from $29-$299 to start your business. That does not make it any less real or reduce the potential of making big money because you did not have to invest $100,000 or more. Don’t get hung up on not having a building everyone can see with your name on the sign. This is a Huge benefit!

In any case the name of the game is getting people to see and experience the products you offer and the opportunity they can benefit from. In any business that will take both time and money.

MLM investments

If you want to learn how to get the most out of your investment of time and money you can learn our teams lead generation techniques that can yield you the lowest possible cost leads.

Join my team and we will show you how to do it. Then you show, the team members who join you. It creates fast duplication and allows a sustainable pattern for success that anyone can follow.

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Believe in yourself, believe in your business and invest in both. You are worth having the lifestyle you want, but you have to work for it and invest in it.

Discover a Simple Business that Pays a Full Time Income from Home

Thanks for reading!

Mark Balderrama

0704152002b
Twister sitting happy!