Today I’m going to answer the question, “how much can you earn from network marketing?”

I have found that so many people are confused around this topic. First I’m going to explain how money is made in the network marketing industry. Then I’m going to share exactly why people say very few people make money in network marketing, why that actually is the case and then I’m going to give you the path. Lastly we’re going to cover the four secrets to making a lot of money.

Before we dive in, I just want to share that before I was a trainer or a coach, I was the number one income earner of a network marketing company. I no longer actively build any network marketing team, I actually work with a lot of different companies and leaders. I’ve made millions of dollars in network marketing prior to being a coach, speaker and trainer.

When talking about how money is made in network marketing, most people that are on the outside kind of looking in or criticizing…. they think that the money is made by recruiting. Although that is a component of how money is eventually made, it’s actually illegal to make money by recruiting. Money is made by the movement of product or service.

Sometimes it’s a service based network marketing company such as discounts on travel or legal services or it is often an actual product like a weight loss product, shampoo, cream…whatever. The money is actually generated from the volume of the purchase of products. Reps always have the opportunity to get an auto ship and get their products monthly (that’s an option for them), but nowadays there are more and more people that are just customers of a network marketing company. Their products are some of the highest quality products you can possibly get and often network marketing is the trend setter.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of something called the acai berry, some people call it the akibary or whatever. Well, no one knew about that until a network marketing company brought that from Brazil and actually started making it mainstream Now you find it everywhere. You find it in acai bowls and all kinds of different things, right?

A lot of times network marketing companies are setting the trend. A new health trend or technology, it originates in network marketing and then money is made through the movement of product. If you’re someone that’s trying to figure out “hey, can I make money at this thing?” You need to learn the art (which we will cover in this video) of “how” to connect with people to get them to want to purchase the service or use the products.

Why do people say that you can’t make money in network marking? 

Why is it that a lot of people say “hey…very few people make money in network marketing!” I even admit it, right?

I want to give you a comparison, because this is what’s lacking when people talk about this sort of thing. On an average year, 700,000 people purchase the exam materials to become a realtor. Of 700,000 people, only a 113,000 make it to take the actual exam. Of a 113,000 that take the exam, 50,000 past the exam. Of 50,000 that passed the exam, about 37,000 will make anything with an average commission of 5,000 dollars. Now, if you look at what they paid to get the exam materials and personally, I don’t think anyone is buying realtor exam materials to learn real estate because there’s so much law and weirdness that’s taught in the real estate license. I don’t think people are buying that, they’re buying it because they want to become a realtor. They want to make money in real estate. But why is there such a sharp contrast from 700,000 people. Out of 700,000, only 37,000 actually make any money. Why is that? It’s because they don’t do the work.

I had someone comment on one of my videos and he said “well hey you know at least as a janitor, you’re guaranteed that you make some money.” Well if you do the work, right? If you’re sweeping the floors and picking up trash then yeah, you’re right.

You’ll get paid something, but the work in network marketing is what’s so misunderstood. By you just getting a realtor license, if you put all your signs in the garage and never talk to anybody, you are not going to make any money.

It is broken down by how many people are you reaching out to, how many people you’re following up with, how many appointments are you setting? If you’re a realtor, how many open houses are you doing, how many listings are you showing, how many listings are you gaining? It’s about your work. It’s not about an industry thing (by the way I’m not bashing real estate). I’ve made a lot of money in real estate, we’ve made a lot of money this past year in real estate so I’m a fan of real estate. I’m a fan of realtors, I’m not bashing them but I’m just giving you the comparison.

When it comes to anything performance-based, most people aren’t going to do the work. They’re just not going to do it. They’re not going to put in the effort to reach out to people, to possibly face rejection, to do videos like this or TikTok’s or whatever. They’re just not going to do the work.

The difference here is people see network marketing, because of the promise of making a lot of money and the low risk, low barrier to entry and they condemn it for those reasons. I see it as the lowest risk, lowest overhead way for the average ordinary person to start a business but doesn’t mean that it’s magical or mystical, right?

If you join and you buy all kinds of products but never talk to anybody, you’re not going to make any money, that’s just the deal.

How do you make money in network marketing? 

Let’s get into how you make the money.

Before we get to the “how” to make money in network marketing and how much can you actually earn, I want to hear from you. What’s one thing you’ve heard about network marketing? Have you heard that it’s really tough, have you heard that few people make money? What have you heard about network marketing and I do read every single comment and I do respond to every single comment so I’d love to hear from you.

What are the four secrets to making money in network marketing? First, I want to address your original question, how much can you earn. It’s performance-based. You can make a lot of money or you can make nothing at all. Nothing is guaranteed, that is absolutely the fact. You heard it here. Now, I have a client right now that brings home over a million dollars a month (results not typical). I’ve seen people that went from homeless and dead broke to making ten thousand dollars a month. Pretty awesome. I’ve also seen people that were really, really hungry and said all the right words and said how motivated and inspired they were but never did the work and didn’t make any money. You have to understand there is no guarantee and if you’re someone that’s caught up on probability…..well then sales isn’t for you.

It’s just not and in fact running a business isn’t for you because probability. The small business administration says 95% of businesses fold within their first five years. So probability-wise, having a business isn’t a good thing. I look at possibility. One time (back when I was building) I was at a meeting and I had a prospect there with me. When he looked at the income disclosure statement he said “hey, looks to me like only a small percentage of people make the real big money” and I said “yeah. Yeah that’s true, a small percentage of people do an insane amount of work but you know what’s cool is in the last job I had about 16 years ago, that wasn’t possible. I could have worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the rest of my life and never made that kind of money.”

I always look at possibility, not probability.

What are these four secrets?

Number one, pipeline. This is the dictator of you making money or not? Pipeline means, how many people you’re reaching out to, how many people you’re following up with, how many appointments are you setting, how many videos are you getting out there. It is your infrastructure of work. Your job as a network marketer is to bring in customers and bring in possible reps. What work are you doing that will lead you to those goals?

Number two, posture. Now, posture is more of the skill inside of that pipeline. Posture in my definition is “the belief in what you have regardless of external acceptance or approval”. The number one knocker outer of a would-be successful network marketer is they join and then they go to their friends and family and seek acceptance, approval and agreement. Usually they are not going to get that at all.

My wife is a great example. When she joined, she was 21 years old, all of her family said “oh that’s stupid.” “Why are you doing that, that makes no damn sense…..you got a college degree, why are you doing this?” When she hit $10,000 a month her two brothers joined, her mother joined and her dad created a spreadsheet for her to use. She didn’t seek acceptance, approval or agreement, she went out and proved it. She proved it then people bought in. Very different scenario. Posture means that you don’t get dissuaded when you get negative feedback.

Number three, position. This is another skill within the pipeline. Position is understanding where your prospect is. I would never go to someone friend or not and say “hey, you should join my company.” I would never do that because I don’t know their position. If I don’t know their position, I’m going to assume they’re at position zero which means I have no idea. I didn’t go to my friends and family and try to close them. What I did instead was I went and just asked if they were open. If they were open, I’d give them more information. So, prior to knowing they’re open, they’re position zero. If someone tells me “hey, I’m open to learning more”… that’s position one.

Managing the position of your prospect will increase your chances of getting more sales.

Number four…last but certainly not least, perspective.

(Notice they’re all four P’s, right? Pipeline, posture, position, perspective.)

Perspective is “what are you filling your mind with? Are you focused on all the things that you don’t want? Are you focused on all the things that aren’t working? Are you focused on how long this thing is taking……..or are you focused on seeing your wishes fulfilled? Are you focused on seeing things “as if” you’re already successful. Positioning your mindset to be incongruent with your current results?  A lot of people they try things but never actually improve because they’re congruent with the result. They’re vibrationally congruent with the results. If all you’re doing is noticing all the things you don’t like in your life or all the things that suck or complaining about this and that, then you’re congruent with your results. No need for you to change.

You have to become incongruent with your results. You have to actually see yourself as more successful than your current senses would demand to you. Now that’s a little deep there, we have videos on our YouTube channel that’ll help you dive into that because that’s an entire thing right there……. but if you abide by pipeline, posture, position and perspective, you’re on your way to making money in network marketing.

If you’re looking at improving your financial situation through network marketing or quite frankly through anything, you may have interest in our book Time, Money, Freedom. It is published by HayHouse and we are very honored to be working with them. Time, Money, Freedom is our 10 rules to radically reshape your life.

Full disclosure, this is not a network marketing book. It’s the journey of my wife and I…how she left the makeup counter, how I left my last job 16 years ago. We edify network marketing in a couple paragraphs but it’s not a book on network marketing. It’s a book on how to improve your finances and your relationships. Here is the link higdongroup.com/time-money-freedom if you want to click that. It is available on audible, amazon….everywhere, but feel free to check it out. We have a lot of great testimonials and reviews from it and I think it’ll really help you.

Ray Higdon

Play Bigger. Make An Impact.


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