Being a member or distributor in a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) venture can be a decent job and very sucessful. Many people are actively participating in these types of firms only part time as they are also maintaining their regular jobs.

However, many of these part timers switch to pledging full time to their work as multi level marketing distributors as the profits quickly turn to being a major part of their income surpassing their regular job.

And when you become a full time distributor, you might consider setting up a home base office especially if you have large scale down lines or also busy doing some business aside from your multi level marketing plans.

Here are some of the guidelines in setting up a home base office.

1. You don’t have to remodel your houses in order to have a home base office for your multi level marketing plans. You just have to plan exactly where you will locate your office inside your home.
 
To pass the IRS requirement if you’re located in the United States it should be an area exclusively for your business.

Do not use the room for non tax related purposes. If it is a play room or listening room then it cannot possibly pass the IRS requirement.

For your multi level marketing activities involve selling the products from your mother company, then the room should be displaying the products that you are selling.

2. Make sure that your home base office is client friendly, it should be free from pets and noisy kids as it will interfere with how you will entertain your clients.
 
It should have a comfortable ambience and fixed in a simple but orderly manner.

If you are selling health products, then it is pleasing to see that all products are well arranged in your cabinet or display case so the clients can have a better look at the items available.

3. Aside from arranging your home, you should also open a savings or check account exclusive to your business. As a distributor of the multi level marketing plans, most of your clients might send payments through your bank account. If you use your own personal savings account, it will be harder for you to monitor your profits from sales and from commissions in your down lines.

4. Get a business phone line. Do not use your home phone for business purposes. Having a business phone line will allow your clients to call you inquiring about their orders and delivery time.

5. Be sure that you read and are completly familiar with all company brochures, training manuals and informative CD’s from your mother company as it will help you learn the guidelines in running your investment.

6. Develop a daily routine and develop within yourself a sense of discipline in your buisness. Without discipline, you can not focus your attention on your home base office. 

7. Finally, advertise. Advertise to your family, friends and neighborhood that you are part of a multi level marketing firm and that you are setting up a good home base office to accept orders, product inquiry and even new members to recruit in your mother company.

Women have the strengths that brought network marketing business in progress with their people and social skills. One of the best tools women have is their “Relationship Marketing.”

Most people believe that multi-level marketing is definitely a selling business. But women have different approach when selling their product; it is not merely selling but also building a long-term relationship with their customers. Women know how to use their ’sharing and caring’ ability as a major skill to recruit more people.

Women have developed recruiting techniques around people in social and business settings. How they do this? By listening intently to prospects, the sincerity of asking questions regarding their concerns, their sharing information technique and knowing what their prospects want from their products and business. And the most important thing is to let their prospect know that they are willing to help.

In conclusion, MLM business is based on communication and a people business and women are an expert in this field.

Women also apply soft methods of relationship marketing when contacting their prospect and their potential recruits. First these women tell their stories as a consumer of the product and share it with others. Then they follow up.

Communication is the best tool used by women to build relationships with their prospects. They use the FORM method, it means: Family, Occupation, Recreation and Money. Women usually engage in a conversation with each other talking about these things and not the business right away.

I’ll tell you why the FORM method.

Family: Women ask about their family because they are really interested. Women sales people want to know their prospect’s dreams and goals and know where they live and if ever they want to move some place else. Do they want to quit their job or do they want to have more time with their family or at home with their kids? Women have so many things to talk about in regards to their family.

Occupation: They talk about their job and are they happy and content with their job.

Recreational: Women talk about having fun and what activities they are engaged in. Does time and money limit them from their fun activity?

Money: Women can easily ask about how much money they want to earn and want to spend on something like equipment, furniture, vacation and education. And they are open to talking about starting a business at home.

Women know how to talk to their prospects, they have made real connections with their prospects and so recruiting them is much easier for them.
 

Multi-level marketing companies like Mary Kay, Avon and Tupperware, are still doing brisk business, but the in-home parties that these companies have helped start are now attracting professional women, as well as the stay-at-home mothers. A lot more choices of products are becoming more available through the years, but one thing that has remained constant: The women who are hostesses at these parties, serving beverages and and snacks as their friends socialize, and look through the catalogs/displays that have been carefully arranged on the dining room tables. These kinds of parties are generating more sales than ever. They are also providing extra income and an adjustable working schedule for women, like Lynn Riddick, who runs her own marketing and PR firm from her home in Alamo Heights. She has a job as a part-time worker for Silpada Designs, a Kansas-based jewelry company which has over 16,000 representaitives all over the country.

According to Lynn Riddick, she would never have imagined herself doing tupperware parties, or the like. But she really has had a fun time doing it. Lynn Riddick makes about $1,500 dollars each month from the these parties, selling jewelry like rose quartz sterling silver necklaces, turquoise bracelets, and black onyx earrings. In about 18 months, Lynn Riddick and her group have been able to sell a total of $45,000 dollars worth of jewelry, which is enough to get them an all-expenses-paid trip to the country of Aruba.

Another MLM distributor, Rachel Hernandez, earns about $100,000-a- year from selling tupperware, and has received 20 free trips as a result of her selling ability. She resigned from her job at the Bexar’s County Tax Assessor’s Office almost 26 years ago, after her fourth child was born. She is now a top executive for Tupperware in the the San Antonio region, with about 250 sales associates working under her. According to her, its been a great journey and experience, because she has been able to raise her children herself, while at the same time working from home and earning good money.

Both Lynn Riddick and Hernandez are a part of a growing community. Already, there is an estimated 13.6 million people in direct-marketing in the country, of which 71.9% percent is female, selling products to interested consumers, like cookware, cosmetics, toys, and even pet accessories. The total sales from this totalled to up to $29.7 billion back in 2004. According to Amy Robinson (from the Washington, D.C. Trade Group), one of the trends that they have noticed over the years is the the expansion of the variety of products that are being sold in the multi-level marketing world.

Even well-known traditional marketers have launched their own direct-sales lines. The makers of Crayola (Binney & Smith) sell “The Big Yellow Box”, which is filled with craft projects that are really suited for little kids, and are now doing direct marketing. Body Shop International sells lotions and cosmetics through their “Body Shop at Home” scheme. Underwear giant Jockey International has in-home underwear gatherings. Kim Gentile, the sales vice-president for Jockey International’s “Person to Person Inc.” (which is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin), said that this is one way that they can literally get closer to their patrons. Jocky International launched “Person to Person” almost 16 months ago, and already has 500 distributors in 35 states in the U.S.

During a “Person to Person” party by Jockey, a representative of the company displays a rack filled with Jockey products (like underwear for both men and women, scarves, blankets and pillows) which cost from $12 dollars to $130 dollars. Crayola launched their “Big Yellow Box” in the multi-level market some years ago. As of today, it has already 1,000 distributors all over the country. Crayola’s products sell from $12.95 dollars up to $59.95 dollars, depending on the product.

Sue Rusch, the general manager of Crayola’s “The Big Yellow Box”, which is based in Easton PA., said that the main reason Crayola wanted to join the multi-level market is that it is one of the best ways to sell their products - right in people’s homes. During one of Crayola’s in-home parties, the distributors do a craft presentation with the party guests, and talk about using the “Big Yellow Box” as a tool for family bonding.
 
Silpada’s co-founders, the company where Lynn Riddick works (they are Bonnie Kelly and Teresa Walsh), are big time personalities in the direct-sales market. Almost a decade ago, the partners started their business with $25 for capital, now they are multimillionaires.
 
According to Rachel Hernandez, one of the noticeable changes over the years is that there has been a significant increase in competition with their in-home parties. It’s definitely a growing industry.