How Much Does It Really Cost to Run a Network Marketing Business Offline?

Ok, so you may or may not be aware that we are not the biggest advocate of building a Network Marketing Company using the traditional methods. Do not get me wrong, it is still definitely possible to build a large and prosperous organization using offline strategies, but besides the ‘low’ start up fee, how much money will this really cost you?

When you are shown a Network Marketing Business Opportunity, your host or presenter usually emphasises the low cost for you to get involved as a distributor. It appears to be a very affordable cost (usually between $100 to $500) to own a business that can potentially make you a significant income, especially when compared to a franchise business that would cost you a lot more. And this is what is very appealing about network marketing, in that you get to have your own business for very little monetary risk.
So you think to yourself, “well I can afford $200 (or whatever it may cost) so why not give it a try?.” The reality however starts to become all too clear after several months if your business does not take off as you expected. Here are some of the additional costs you may have to consider:

Travel:

In order to get to weekly meetings, presentations and training sessions you will need to drive or take public transport. So there is the cost of fuel or the ticket for the train and bus. Weekly meetings are one thing but if you take it on yourself to do your own small presentations at other people’s homes for either you or your team, the cost of travel can start to mount up.

Hotel Opportunity Meetings:

In most cases you will be required to contribute towards the Hotel venue where you hold your weekly opportunity meetings. If you are lucky the senior reps in the business may cover the cost of this, usually however you will have to pay a small contribution of $5-$10 every time you attend an opportunity meeting and any guests you have will be admitted for free. A worse case scenario though would be if you are required to pay for you and any guests you invite. If you have 10 guests that could mean $55 to $110 including yourself!

Additional Training:

Your sponsor will likely tell you that the key to building a successful network marketing business is following the system and above all plugging into the training. This could be in the form of Audio CDs, DVDs, books but the biggest cost you will have to make are Training days/weekends. Every company will hold their own training events. Some will hold at least one a month and sometimes over a weekend, which you are of course encouraged to attend. This could mean having to pay for the travel to get to the event, hotel accommodation if the event location is far away from where you live.

Monthly Subscription:

Some Network Marketing businesses will require you to purchase monthly auto shipments of physical or virtual products. The cost of this will vary from company to company and depend on the type of products or services the company is selling. In many cases you can get this fee waived by making a certain amount of personal sales, however if until you make this quota, you will have to pay this monthly subscription until you do. So if the monthly subscription is $50 you could effectively be paying $600 for the whole year!

These are just some of the costs you will have to incur when getting involved in Network Marketing and it can be a whole lot more, depending how serious you want to take your business. So before you decide that this is the right business for you, take into account that there is more investment required than you are led to believe.

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