BUSINESS MODELS #2

March 11, 2015 Jaybee 0 Comments

Hello entrepreneur,

Welcome back to what might probably be the final newsletter in a sequence of awakening articles to fire up those who are at a cross roads (especially those who just concluded their service to the fatherland.)

A “Do I polish my CV and begin submitting from one private company to another government institute, probably I might get interviewed, land a job, settle down and live a life of security. At least don’t let me be like some people who bite more than they can chew.”

OR

B “Do I look for a business that doesn’t require millions as capital and start small, build it up, push it past the first five years, gather a team around myself and together we build it from insect stage to giant stage, I settle down and enjoy a life of freedom. Don’t let me limit myself and live a boring routine life, where I have to do the same thing over and over for like thirty to forty years.”

Apologies, this article is coming later than expected. No thanks to a brief morale zapping illness but no matter what, I’d promised to be back with this article and here it is.

Previously we talked about BUSINESS MODELS which I dissected into offline and online and I went as far as picking the best business from each of the category and that’s exactly why we’re having this meeting again. In the previous post, I promised to shed more light on the two best business models and that’s exactly what I’ll do but there’s a bit of a bad news – Don’t drop that jaw just yet cos there’s also good news. Which do you want to hear first?

Ok the bad news is that the space and time available to me here won’t allow me do total justice to dissecting and broadening out these business models so while some people would’ve gotten all the info they need, you might still be having some lil’ scepticisms but from here on, if you have any more questions, inquiries or suggestions, you can scroll down to beneath the post. You’ll see the email to channel your stuffs through. The news isn’t as bad as we thought at first right?

Now, the good news is for everyone who is interested, I have a library of materials to guide and help you not just in decision making but in having in-depth knowledge of any of the two businesses we’ll be talking about and a whole lot of online businesses that could generate PASSIVE INCOME, should you decide to try your hands on any one.

NETWORK MARKETING and INFORMATION MARKETING – these were the two business models singled out for offline and online models respectively. Notice the common factor? “MARKETING”.

Now, that word is a word many people hate for one reason or the other, although some hate it for no reason at all. You probably hate it too but guess what?... That same word is one of the things that has kept the world in existence. Remove it and seriously, we all might just go extinct.

Web dictionary defines MARKETING as the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including research and advertising. Means if you have a small scale business and you have a bbm channel, whatsapp group or website for it, you’re simply promoting or marketing it and if you’re Dangote or Coscharis, you simply need to keep up Marketing or you’re out of business but do you know that marketing isn’t limited to selling of goods, it could also be services and of course your mind would go to the dry cleaners, the saloons and all but do you know if you didn’t market yourself with that paper called CV, you probably might still be eating popcorn at home? Do you know that shining up CVs and repackaging it is what some people now live on? Do you know that we all go through one form of marketing or the other from time to time?

“Ok, I earn my salary so, Jaybee you can say I’m marketing all you want but I’m not selling anything. That’s good marketing for me.” A friend said this to me and I smiled and replied him with this:

“We all sell something. Money can never enter into your pocket if a good or service has not gone out. You’re merely exchanging your knowledge and expertise for the CEO’s dollars. (He gets paid in dollars) and the bitter truth is that those who go into marketing without being fully aware are those at the bottom of the marketing food chain and no matter how much the CEO says your knowledge is worth (I mean SALARY) you’ll never be compensated enough and at a point, that fact will break you.”

Neither did he reply nor have we spoken since. One of the ways I lose friends these days though and someone like that, let’s assume he works for an electronics company, all his home appliance would be from that company. The appliance he’ll get his parents would be the same, if I seek his opinion as a friend, which product would he advise me to go for?

Without wasting any more of our time let’s take the offline model first – NETWORK MARKETING.

NETWORK MARKETING: A business model in which a distributor network is needed to build the business and every distributor is an independent partner of the company owning the products. Usually, such businesses are also Multilevel marketing in nature in that payouts occur at more than one level and is based on the strength of a distributors network (The number of other distributors in his/her team).

Examples of Companies into network marketing include: Avon, Mary Kay cosmetics, Tupperware, longitudinal telecoms, Oriflame Sweden, Max group of companies, etc. Oh and yes, the ones you might be more familiar with might include Trevo, Neolife, Forever Living, OrganoGold, etc

Network Marketing is a type of business opportunity that is very popular and right for people looking to start a flexible business which can also be run part time with probably another business or a daily job. I heard a few politicians in Nigeria are network marketers.

Network marketing programs feature a very low upfront investment-usually only a few thousands of naira for the purchase of a product sample kit and a registration license which in turn becomes the opportunity to sell a product line directly to friends, family and other personal contacts. All network marketing companies also asks their distributors/participants to recruit sales representatives. The recruits constitute a rep’s “downline” and their sales generate income for both themselves and the company paying those above them in the program.

If you’ve ever stumbled on the term Direct Sales, it’s the same thing as Network Marketing. These companies have been for well over fifty years with struggles in the early onset cos it’s a business model that doesn’t follow the normal or typical business structure. For instance, have you ever seen Forever Living advertise on digital billboards or Trevo on radio stations? No. why? Cos they use a method called Direct Selling. When you sign up for any network marketing company, you indirectly volunteer to spread their name to as many people and regions as possible, starting from your immediate environment. Your friends, your family, your co-workers, your church, and so on. You become their billboards, their radio adverts, their street promotions, their TV commercials but at the same time, you become their ambassadors. Meaning, the same way Flavour, M.I and co are to globacom, Davido, Saka and Wizkid are to MTN, the same way Don Jazzy is to Loya Milk is the same way you’ll be to any network marketing company you sign up for and mind you, that’s not even the main way to earn money as a network marketer.

Have you ever heard people tell you they know someone who earns ₦1Million every month or ₦5Million or more? Cos I remember a friend who was trying to recruit me to her company told me she’ll show me someone who earns ₦18 Million every thirty days. (I remember how squeezed my face was when I first heard that.) This not only sounds unreal, it also sounds ridiculous but however way it sounds doesn’t make it untrue. Personally, I’ve seen cheques and bank alerts and for those who we’ll still be keeping in touch after this, there are still some things I’ll expose to you. Thing is, to our salary minds that money sounds unheard off but there’s nothing like salary to a network marketer instead it’s called income or returns and thinking about that only, will first help calm your flexing nerves.

Statics in America show that every working day, about 9,000 people dump their daily jobs to sign up for a network marketing company. I don’t know the statistics in Nigeria but we’ll soon overtake cos more and more network marketing companies will come in and open people’s eyes to what Donald Trump called ‘The Invisible Business’.

Ever heard the phrase: “Your NETWORK determines your NETWORTH?” well that’s a phrase used mostly by network marketers and I won’t disagree with them at all. In the conventional business world, the statement is as true as “Oxygen keeps us alive”.

There are different types of Network Marketing companies. There’s the Binary, the 8^th Generational, the breakaway system, and so on but they all have one aim: Giving the world their wonderful products while changing and enriching the lives of their distributors. And they almost have the same mode of getting this done: Selling their products to you as a distributor who share them with friends and family but most importantly, recruiting others to join your network of distributors. The more your active “downlines”, the more money you make and you earn residual income on every single one of the members in your network. That’s it for now on how any network marketer makes income.

I’ve not done 10% justice to Network Marketing but we don’t have all day but just before you see this article as a divine sign or something, there are six questions to ask anyone trying to recruit you into any network marketing company. There are deeper explanations to these questions but briefly, here they are:

To some people, that last question is what they ask first after which they get frustrated, quit and label the Networking Company a scam, and might even go as far as discouraging others from signing up to the company.

I won’t be able to say more on Network Marketing for now. Time is almost up and I’ve not talked about the online business model.

INFORMATION MARKETING: A business model whereby information is packaged in a transferrable format and disseminated to a targeted group of consumers in exchange for cash. That’s just the baseline of information marketing but don’t get it twisted. Info marketing is not restricted to online alone but the type we’ll be discussing here is the raw business type which is also sometimes referred to as email marketing. I do tell people that we’ve been buying information since we were born and we’ll continue to buy it till we die. So you see why Info Marketers do well. Ok, you want to ask me how? The first day you parents dropped you off at school, they paid your school fees right? What did they pay for? Your dad buys newspapers doesn’t he? What is he paying for? You pay your internet bills (without which you wouldn’t be reading this) what did you pay for? If you know the numbers behind the silver panel on a recharge card will you buy it?

Information Marketing, I mean email marketing is a kind of business that has been for decades and has made people millions of dollars because a piece of reasonable information would always be useful to someone, somewhere at some point in time. Have you ever received a mail with the subject “How to make $500 working for 4 hours from home” or “How to last longer in bed” or “How to browse the internet free with any network” and so on. Your mailing system would sometimes put these mails in the junk folder. They’re all from Information Marketers – They just send the mails randomly and if the title entices you, you probably would follow the link to their site and read the long newsletter to the place where you’re told to pay a certain amount to a bank account after which the info product is delivered to your mail. Info products are usually in form of ebooks, audio files, video clips, podcasts or webinars. All these are what restrict this model to online and your email as the receiving basket.

There are in-depths strategies to Info marketing that makes it easier and more lucrative than it used to be but time won’t allow us go too deep. Assume I use a software called email captor to capture 500 emails of people who might be interested in my product titled “How to get any visa without stepping foot at the embassy” or I spice the title up “Avoid embassy hassles! Secrets to get any VISA of your choice revealed!” out of my 500 prospects, half are either not interested or they don’t have the two thousand naira (₦2000) price I stamp on the ebook. 250 pays and the well composed, easy to understand ebook gets sent to their mails. How much have I just made? Do the maths (₦2000X250). Another thing is, I try and be more personal with my prospects and they have every reason to trust me and come back to purchase any other info products from me. I’ve not only made money, I’ve built a customer base around myself. There are questions one must ask before starting an Information marketing business. For example

There are also some very important tools to every Information Marketer but that’ll be discussed later.

So that’s it. That’s where we would stop today. This one is long enough and how did you even manage to read this to the end? You’re reader and it means you’re a leader.

If you have any questions about any of the business models you can shoot a mail to me via admin@maturemindstalk.com and I’ll reply ASAP but like every business, never rush into anything cos people rush out of anything they rush into. Gather adequate knowledge of what you do before you do it so you don’t just shoot yourself in the leg. Don’t just say “Oh they said it would work and it’s even working for Mr. A so it’ll work for me.”

Thanks for the time you took out to read this and do you feel this was just a waste of your time, I sincerely apologise. Would you like to read the posts that brought us to this one, here: NOW, WHAT'S NEXT? and BUSINESS MODELS #1.

Cheers to your decision to set up a business of your own to get you wealth.

See you at the top.

Elijah Jaybee.

admin@maturemindstalk.com

Mature Minds Talk.