What does Affordability mean to you?

What does "affordable" mean when you are considering joining an MLM company? Most people think of the immediate investment to see if it is something that they can afford to invest at the time. However, there are many other aspects to consider when deciding the affordability of a program.

While it is important that the initial investment is affordable to your budget, it is also important to ask yourself if the program is affordable to most on a reality basis or if only a certain group may be able to afford the program. This affects the success of your business simply because many people can not afford to invest several hundreds of dollars to start a home business. Also, if there is an autoship program involved, be sure it is also affordable to most others as well. It is important that the combination of initial investment as well as monthly autoships are affordable to the majority in order to increase the prospecting field for your business.

You should also consider the cost of doing business in the equation as well. You should research the cost of any training materials, training calls and other materials that the company may charge for that will be necessary to get your business started. If you have an investment of $200 for the start-up cost, $100 per month autoship plus costs of training materials, these costs can add up quickly when added to the other obvious expenses of starting a business such as advertising and other costs not under the control of the company.

It is always a good idea to look for a program that has low start-up costs, reasonable autoships and free training materials, order forms, documents and training calls to help you get started as cost-efficiently as possible. also, you should consider if the start-up kit and autoship contains products that will allow you to get a return on your investment. I will give you an example that I learned to avoid over the years.

One company I joined over 20 years ago required a $500 investment. This was the cost of the start-up kit. In this kit, I received 1 catalog, a few products that would net a profit of about $30 if sold at retail, a small instructional booklet that basically presented the business plan that my sponsor showed me to get me to join, a few order forms and page after page of these testimonials of huge money-makers professing the marvel of the business and what they now have as a result. Now, buried inside this material was a 2 page "explaination" of how and why I was required to purchase a certain "PV" per month, which, in this particular business required a purchase of about $200 per month to achieve. An excellent time to be informed of this fact, I would say!

Then, I find out by having a very high sales volume per week that the profits I made from all these orders barely paid for the gas it took to deliver them. So I wondered, "How do I make money with this company"? Of course, they would tell me by sponsoring people! Easier said than done with the cost to join their program and all the hidden costs to boot.

Add to this the fact that the catalogs, training materials and sales aids were very expensive and counted "zero" for my monthly PV count that I needed and you end up with a very expensive business investment and nothing to show. Now, if this was getting too expensive for me with the high sales volume that I had, how could I expect to get average people to join that business? Remember, this was in the mid eighties when the initial investment alone was like a gold mine!

So, affordability has to be figured in a broader picture than just considering if you, yourself can afford the up front costs. Learn to ask questions and try to find a company that offers all the training materials that you will need to get started at no cost to you. And as for any catalogs you will need, make sure that they are reasonably priced. Of course, the company will offer sales aids that they will charge for and there is nothing wrong with that as long as they are an "option" and not a requirement. You should be able to start your business on the initial start-up cost without having to purchase hundreds of dollars of sales aids in addition to the kit. Then, as you earn, you can use some of the profits to order those sales aids that you like and go from there. This should be attainable through retailing the products so be sure that there is a good margin of profit with the company you choose.

If you choose a company that is affordable to the average person then you will have a much better chance of success than if the start-up costs run in to hundreds of dollars for your new member. You want a company that is interested in helping you succeed rather than just trying to pressure you into buying a lot of their materials for their profits.

I have been very blessed to find a company that provides all of these things and much more. However, it has taken many years and a lot of mistakes along the way. Those mistakes are what made me realize just how exceptional this company is when I finally found it. If you learn what to look for in a business opportunity, success can be yours if you take the necessary actions to acheive it!

© 2007 Bonnie N. Ramsey

Bonnie Ramsey

Diamond Team Leader