Market Trends - How to Choose a Profitable Home Business to End This Recession

For the thousands of people around the world facing job layoffs, being out sourced, down sized, or otherwise a victim of a the global recession, home business is an attractive option. But what to do? According to some of the richest people in the world, network marketing is a fantastic way for the average person to gain real wealth.

It makes sense from the perspective of low start up costs, low overhead, often good training, support and resources. While there are some who will receive their lay off slip along with a nice severence package that they can use to invest in a business, most will be wary of starting a new business and risking those funds.

Let's assume that you have done your research. You've compared the risks and benefits of the business models. You understand that network marketing is a great way to leverage the efforts of others to build your organization and your income. Now you have to find a company. This is not something that should be done lightly. You want to choose the company, and then choose your upline. Choose to build under people who are going to help you. Even better, choose a team of people!

Choosing an MLM Company

It can be daunting! Have a set of criteria. One of your first criteria should be the products. To retain customers and partners, you must have a good product that is in high demand. Consumable products are best because they need to be purchased over and over. We are looking for high quality, consumable products that people need and want.

With your basic criteria in mind do some market research. What are the current trends? You can get clues to market trends by watching the news, paying attention to the big brands ads and commercials. For example, right now we hear alot about the economy, the environment and health care. These are topics that masses of people are concerned about. They are probably a good place to look for business opportunities.

When I chose my company, I had already decided that I was looking for something that addressed environmental concerns, but I wanted to find products that are economical - that people would feel they could afford. Green consumables seemed like a good market to get into. I did some research on google to discover how many people are searching for green consumables. Yes, this is a good market and one that is being searched big time!

I actually joined a discount shopping program thinking that was the perfect business. People could shop in stores they already know to buy their consumable products at discount prices. Kind of like a Sam's Club. It was a mistake. Great concept, but the company was too new and had too many glitches. They were slow to deliver the business packages, and I was nervous about promoting the program because I just wasn't confident in the company. They were making too many mistakes, and it was clear they didn't have the financial resources to get off the ground running.  

Initially, I thought that the fact that they were a brand new company was a great thing - you know the ground floor opportunity... and that is certainly appealing in many ways, but stability is far more important than a fresh face. The sign up fee was another issue. People who have just faced a job lay off are really looking for even less risk than that $200 to $500 sign up fee with a company they've never heard of.  It became clear to me that the company needed that sign up fee because they didn't have the resources. 

My List of Criteria

1. No fees to join
2. A successful team under a heavy hitter
3. Team support and training
   
4. A fair and lucrative compensation plan (I really like the matrix payplan, but if the matrix is the ONLY compensation in the plan, I'd forget it - you need something with fast cash up front)
5. Company payout should be 60% or more
6. Stable company with good infrastructure (problem with start up companies is they often lack the funds to support the system, resulting in low payouts, instability, and lack of confidence)
7. Company should be at least 5 years old with strong leadership
8. Distributors should have a voice in administration
   
9. Reasonable marketing rules. Many companies have ridiculous internet rules that are prohibitive
10. Products that are green (environmentally friendly), in demand and consumable