Recently I had someone contact me to ask the question: “Can you really earn (fill-in your amount) per month in network marketing?”

Everyone finds a business that they believe suits them and meet’s their goal for generating income. They let it run for a few months or more, they decide to get on the internet…

…It is promised to be the salvation for your business! In no time you’ll be generating an endless supply of leads.

So when I received the question above which had a web address attached to it, I visited the blog and found basic SEO mistakes.

These mistakes are all to common among the millions of network marketing blogs out there today. With the major one being the writing is all over the place…

…A total lack of focus on what the blog or website is supposed to be about.

For example: If your blog or website is about network marketing you’ll find that there are many topics that are closely aligned with the term.

Topics like affiliate marketing, Leads, Coaching, even blogging etc… can all be related to network marketing…

…But in your blog post if you go from lead generation to telling me about a specific nutritional product in great detail, it is not really aligned with the blogs theme.

You’d be better off starting a new blog on “Joe’s Nutritional Tips.”

Yet, on the other hand most of us quickly run out of ideas to write about for our blogs, which could explain why so many jump from on topic to off topic posts.

Now there is really nothing wrong with that for a personal blog where you just want to write about the things you love…

…But, if your blog is business oriented you’d better stay on topic and focused.

The greatest challenge for network marketers is creating enough content, many have resorted to plagiarizing content for many different sites.

Search engines just like success in business require consistent action and original content. Ask any good copy-writer what he or she has to do for a project and they’ll tell you research.

Which is why I’ve been a fan and supporter of Leaders Club for so many years. It’s a virtual treasure trove of ideas, training and proven marketing methods…

…Information that gives you years worth of ideas on what write that if your goal is to create one of the top network marketing sites.

Each year we set new goals for ourselves. We tell ourselves that this year will be the year that our network marketing business grows exponentially.

88 percent of Americans set New Year’s resolutions each year. Yet, by January 2nd over half of those resolutions have already been abandoned.

Followed by another 10 percent by January 3rd.

By the time, we get to April over 90 percent have completely forgotten the resolutions they’ve set for the New Year!

Last month I had written about “Blogging your way to network marketing success.” This is another goal that many set for themselves each year.

And, each year like clockwork many abandon their blogging project. They find out very quickly that it will take far more time and effort to achieve.

If you’re going to blog try to be consistent, trust me it’s hard to do. Especially when you are trying to run more than one blog like I do.

I am convinced that even with everything going on in our society today that 2010 will be your most productive year ever if you take action today!

If you think back to one of the biggest obstacles to starting your business, I’m sure you’ll agree it was believing that you don’t have enough time.

No doubt, your prospects feel exactly the same way as you did. Now imagine telling your prospects or new downline members that in order to succeed they will need to spend…

Several hours each day on social sites.
Countless hours learning how to create a website or blog.
Several hours each week Blogging.
Countless hours learning how to create and publish Youtube Videos.

Knowing full well that 90 percent of them will quit by April after they see no results from all this time and effort.

You’ve set them up to compete with ten’s of thousands all in the same market. Imagine driving down the road and all you could see are thousands of the same franchises along the road, where is the attraction in that?

But, you don’t really care you got your one time commission?

Maybe it’s time to become a contrarian network marketer and stop following the herd. After all if your goal is to generate a full time income, you’ll need to differentiate yourself from all the lemmings out there.

If there is one thing that the most successful network marketers do it is, they don’t always follow the herd. And they do not abandon proven methods that work in any economic situation.

After all I’m hoping that you did not start this only to end up going broke in network marketing.

This past year I essentially took the summer off from writing.

It was nice to get away from it, take a mental break, from dissecting all the garbage floating out there.

Unfortunately like most people I got wrapped up in all the political shenanigans. You would have thought the election cycle had stopped, yet the evidence suggests it is still in full swing.

Beginning in the fall of 2008, we’ve witnessed bailout after bailout, and different sources suggest we’re far from finished.

The Wall Street Journal warned that the commercial real estate market is disintegrating, and is poised to fall apart in the second half of 2009. When this occurs we can look forward to more people joining the ranks of the unemployed.

No doubt if you look around in your neighbor hood you’ll see many of these commercial properties that are poised to failure. For the past 10 years banks provided hundred of billions in loans.

These loans where used to develop strip malls, movie theaters, office parks, warehouses, and parking garages. These small business employ quite a few individuals, who could very well be looking for a job in the coming year or two.

Many of those joining these ranks will no doubt be network marketers. Yet, we don’t even count in the eyes of the government, so we can forget looking for a helping hand for our businesses!

Don’t Count On Getting Rescued!

As an independent contractor, it is up to you to determine the best course of action for your business. No one else can do it for you, not your upline, downline, company, or just any network marketing training organization.

You can have two people start in the same year, same company, and have the same background and skills, yet it is almost guaranteed within 5 years or less there will be major differences between them.

There is pretty close to a 97% chance that one of them will be completely gone or earning less than $200 per month. What is it that will set these two individuals apart?

Knowledge!

Knowledge is power! And yet everyone wants to sell you this knowledge, but the truth told most of this knowledge is junk, yeah that’s right total junk.

Everyday there are millions of network marketers doing the same thing you are, with the majority doing absolutely nothing. Is it from fear or the lack of knowledge that keeps them from getting into action?

And those that are getting into action, are using a system that really does not set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd.

Your competition Is Everywhere!

Yet, how can you truly be different, how can you set yourself apart if you’re using the same network marketing lead generation system everyone else is, the answer is you can’t!

While you can write a different headline and text for a pay-per-click ad, or a tweet on twitter, you appear just like the other thousand individuals before you. Something that the prospect has already rejected!

So how can two people, which I mentioned above have completely different results? What is it that will make their lives in network marketing different?

Knowledge, Useful knowledge, And most important its Application.

Yet, no one can promise you, that even with the best knowledge you’ll be successful. The most important factor in network marketing success, is not your company, not your products, it is YOU!

Success starts with a plan! Without a plan of action, you’ll never be able to set yourself apart from the crowd. You have a choice you can be in control of your own rescue plan, start enjoying success, or you can become one of the statistics!

We all talk about building our businesses for the residual income it offers, yet few if any achieve it. Network marketing is portrayed often as it’s so easy anybody can do it. How easy has it been for you to generate the income your after?

With todays economy everyone is struggling, at least it surely seems that way. Yet, in many ways it could be more perception then anything else. If you’re told how bad something is, it does not take long for your mind to actually begin to believe it, therefore making it a reality.

Living in the Las Vegas area, has its advantages and disadvantages, yet it can give one an insight into the economy. From November 2008 until about mid February 2009 aircraft traffic into Vegas, appeared to almost come to a halt. Since mid February, traffic has improved dramatically, almost back to mid 2008 levels.

Stop listening to the News!

Listening to the news, which always seems to lag the economy by six to nine months is sabotaging your business efforts. There is no doubt change is occurring, business models will be changing as well. When looking at any network marketing business, is it recession proof?

If you’ve done any stock investing, you know that in tough economic times bread and butter items tend to do far outperform than the average market. As people tighten their belts and disposable income decreases it is these cannot live without items that survive, in both good times and bad times.

When looking at the many different businesses you could become involved with I’m sure that was the last thing on your mind. Very few asked themselves the question, how will this business weather a recession. The sad fact is very few if any network marketing opportunities offer any protection from a down economy.

There are a few businesses that do manage to do quite well in tough economic times, either staying flat or increasing market share. The majority of these businesses deal with energy. No matter what happens with the economy you’ll continue to pay your utility bills. In todays electronic world, some of you would probably cut off an arm before you cut your internet access.

Network marketing is a business school, where one should be learning how to set themselves apart from the crowd. A smart business person will always be looking at the profitability of any venture. When it comes to residual income, it becomes vitally important that we are replacing the attrition rate of customers or downline members.

If we are spending more of our time just covering the attrition rate, then growing the business, maybe our company, and products are just not that appealing. Find the business models that will give you the long term residual income your after, it will make your job and life a lot easier!

I was talking to a new member on my team and I asked this person to tell me their monthly income goal. They answered quickly – “$5,000 per month.” Using an income calculation tool, I projected they would reach their goal (based on recruiting six people into their organization each month, which I felt was somewhat aggressive) in 18 months. They responded by saying, “Why so long?”

Wow! I was surprised by their answer. Tell me, what kind of job/business opportunity(without prior experience) is available, using minimal capital, that would allow you the opportunity to work from your home and in 18 short months provide you with a $60,000 annual income.

Lets, say they missed their goal and earned $4,000 a month. The last time I checked, most college graduates, after four years of attending school, start out earning around $30,000 to $35,000 a year. How long will it take them to earn $50,000 to $60,000 a year?

After we talked a bit, my new team member felt pretty good about the fact that they could accomplish their goal in this relatively short period of time….

Network Marketing, to quote a respected leader in the industry, is the “Greatest Industry in the World.”

Today I was thinking about what I should post regarding our network marketing community and the thought came to me that I should address one of the greatest challenges we face as marketers.

Have we formulated a plan that will build our businesses to accomplish our financial goals in a given period of time?

Unfortunately the answer to this question for the majority of marketers is NO – we have not.

When I decided to enter the network marketing arena, I had no clue as to how I was going to build my business. I remember my first meeting with my up-line sponsor, where I was directed to make a list of all of my family, friends and acquaintances for the purpose of inviting them to a meeting to introduce them to my business opportunity.

It was than that I realized that I needed a plan that would put me in contact with prospects interested in starting a home-based business, not contacting family, friends and acquaintances most of whom had never expressed an interest in having their own home-based business.

Most marketers base the growth of their business and the objective of their financial goals on Hope. Few marketers base the growth of their business and the objective of their financial goals on Reality.

The Hope business plan is just that – Hope that everyone is interested in joining my business. This plan has virtually zero possibility of building a successful home-based business.

The Reality business plan is based on achieving daily bench marks of how many interested persons I must contact to build a successful home-based business, over a given period of time. This plan will form the foundation of my success.

So what is your business plan based on – HOPE or REALITY?

Every day I am in contact with people looking for help in their network marketing businesses. Each person that I contact has been asked to fill out a questionnaire asking them 1) What is their 90-day goal, 2) What is their monthly budget, 3) How much time do they have to invest in their business on a weekly basis, 4) What is their greatest challenge and 5) How much money do they expect to earn in the next 12 months.

Before I contact them I go over their answers and many times they have not filled out an answer or two to questions 1 – 4; however, they always seem to be able to answer question 5. The average expectation is to earn $100,000 or more in their first 12 months of business.

I find this amazing since less than 3% of all of the working population in America earns $100,000 annually. For some reason, people entering the network marketing arena believe that this annual income expectation is realistic.

When I am able to talk with them I ask them how they expect to earn that much money and they tell me they don’t know. They just believe that because they have heard about someone else earning that kind of income, they can do it too.

What they don’t realize is that they have set themselves up to fail, and fail they will unless they develop a plan to get them to their financial goal.

A solid marketing plan will determine how much income one can expect to earn over what period of time. Without a sound plan, one cannot expect to develop a realistic goal.

So, what is a realistic goal? A realistic goal is a goal that can be achieved with the implementation of a well thought-out marketing plan.

Can we make an annual six-figure income in network marketing? Absolutely; however, earning that income in our first year is next to impossible. A more realistic time line is two to four years of hard work and consistent effective action.

How many of us joined a network marketing program expecting to earn 10,000 dollars a month within the first few months? Is it any wonder then that most people feel that it is some form of a scam.

Are these classic examples of unrealistic expectations:• I have no experience with network marketing, I want to sign-up 100 people within the next 90 days.•

I’m just starting and want to earn $100,000.00 a year within the next 12 months.Maybe they are and then again maybe they’re not. So How can we set realistic expectations for the growth of our business?

Start with what you know that you can achieve on your own.

What do I mean by what you can achieve, how many people have you sponsored into your business within the last 30 days, 60 days or 90 days?

How many new customers have you acquired for your products and services in the last 30 days, 60 days or 90 days?

This is probably the most over looked item when choosing a company to work with. You will need to know just how your company pays you. Is most of your income derived from the deeper levels within your organization or is most of it paid to you directly as it should be?

The reason I bring this up is that quite a few companies place the income in areas that I would call almost unobtainable many levels deep. This really makes it tough to determine your projected income because it is based on the work of others over which you have no control.

We need to work from a plan that is based on what we can realistically accomplish. If I want to make X then I need to acquire X amount of customers.

Ok What about your downline? Well if you take the approach that anything they accomplish is just icing on the cake so to speak.

Tracking is important to reaching your goals.

With out tracking, how can you tell if your on track to reaching your goals? Remember all those useless reports that you had to fill out at work well guess what maybe now you’ll begin to see the justification in them.

When we talk about tracking it can cover many areas of our business from the number of dials it takes to close a customer to the cost of ads to bring in one customer or new business partner.