When I write the words, “Home Based Business,” you might automatically assume I am writing about a Network Marketing opportunity or some type of an MLM. When all it really means is exactly what it reads, a home based business, or a business based at home. Since the words “home based business” have been tagged to the network marketing industry, the non-network marketing businesses have been tagged as “work at home jobs” or “work at home businesses.”
When my wife and I first started looking for a way to generate some extra income, we turned to the internet for answers, and of course, we stumbled across a network marketing company. We joined that company and were very successful, but truth of the matter is, a home based business doesn’t have to be in the network marketing industry. Most likely, the only reason we jumped into network marketing was due to the internet being flooded with network marketing opportunities.
Network Marketing vs. Traditional Home Based Business
Compared to the network marketing business model, a more traditional home based business falls second in areas of mentoring and turnkey operations. There’s no real guidebook to starting a traditional home based business in the medical field or in internet marketing. When you join a network marketing company, most have the training and tools to help you setup your business.
My point is….if you are creative enough, you don’t have to join a network marketing company to have a business from home. There are plenty of things you can do to generate extra income, and there are a few benefits to doing this:
- You would be completely self reliant. Meaning, immune to having a network marketing company crumble beneath your feet. If your business crumbles, it would be completely your doing.
- Your reputation is managed and influenced by you and you alone. In network marketing, mistakes made by the company or others promoting the same company effect your business. A few bad apples can ruin it for everyone.
Benefits to starting a network marketing company include:
- Mentoring. You can get training from your sponsor, or enroller, as well as company training.
- The product is already created for you. Plug and play!
Conclusion
Just know that if you are searching the internet for home based business opportunities, they will all most likely be in network marketing, especially if you type in the words “home based business.” But if you’re ambitious and self motivated, a good network marketing company is a great vehicle to use to get out of the job or create some extra income. But on that note, a more traditional home based business could be a better fit.
The type of business could be anything under the sun, but just operated out of a home office, or in my case, a living room/kitchen table/couch. There are a ton of things that can be done from home as your own home based business outside of the network marketing industry. My next post will be a list of 50 non-network marketing home based business ideas that will help you in your decision process.
David Allred is the author and creator of CFW. David has been teaching entrepreneur minded people how to earn a full time income working from the comfort of home for nearly a decade.
Think about it. Never miss your kids’ events, set your own schedule, choose your own income and enjoy a lifestyle and income which most people only drool over!
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