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[Jim Ticehurst Contribution Level: 4]

Most of us order pizzas from time to time and we are kind of aware that pizza shops spend about 50% of the cost of the pizza on promoting it....what with advertising, buying ingrediants, premises, labour, delivery etc...

Now I have got to admit this (but please don't tell anybody) but I don't like spending money doing things like promoting products online (or offline for that matter) ...I suppose because there is often no instant return on the cash (if any?).

So here is my question (and I appreciate that not everybody is going to want to answer this) but here it is:
Do you spend money on your business online and off-line? and if so doing what and how much do you normally spend? and what sort of return do you usualy get? plus which companies do you use?

If anybody objects to this line of questions then please don't complain about it, just move on to the the next post (sorry, that didn't come out quite the way I typed it) anyway, thats it, take care and have a great day, regards Jim T.

[Andrea Thornton Company: Global Domains International, Inc Contribution Level: 2]

Jim,

I will answer the questions.

My husband and I jumped off into marketing in July.

We have between us 15 websites (not all are active yet) 5 of them are through GDI ($10.00/mo each) and the others were from $2.99 to 12.00 per year, depending on site name). We recently joined GVO for a year - this cost us $97 bucks and change. (total) The GDI accounts came with hosting and GVO gave us hosting for 4 more. It also gave us *on a silver platter* access to tools and training we could never afford to buy separately.

In our combined downlines:
GDI: 15
GVO: 4
TCA: 57 (TCA is free to join)

Dollars - so far all outgoing. Upside - worm is turning. Prediction -

Andrea

[Mario Sanders Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 6]

Normally, my offline ventures were costing more. Between buying brochures, business cards, and gettng out in the marketplace talking to people. Now I find out if they listen, they don't respond. And in six months later, they may ask for another business card. Next I direct them to my website which is easier. I let the website do all the explaining and information. My job will be religated to branding myself in my community. Letting people know who I am and what I do. If they need more information, I will give it to them.
Being online however, has become more complicated. I'm always joining some group to expand my knowledge and experience to promoting myself online. I just joined GDI and still working out the kinks or learning this new method of communication. Aweber does the auto responder and hubspot is another program I started but haven't got a chance to go to them very often. Just keeping up with all these programs have gotten a bit overwhelming to say. No response yet to any of them.
Sometimes it is better to just get away from it all and enjoy life and people without engaging in business. Just getting to socialize with others and enjoy the day with many new friends.

[Jim Ticehurst Contribution Level: 4]

Welll thank you both for your comments, much appreciated.
The reason that I started such a personal post was simply this (and this is being brutally honest about myself) I have messed about with this form of marketing for quite a while now and to put it bluntly I am a failure, simple as that.

I was talking to somebody just recently about different forms of marketing and this particular person sold purely through postcards, he said that he spent about $4,0000 dollars aweek on advertising and his usual return on that outlay was about $5,000 a week (so obviously he was earning on average aroundabout $1,000 a week. That was the only source of marketing that he used, and he also had someone doing the actual work for him as well. ....he was in a type of mlm but there were no refunds ever. I personally don't have that sort of couraage.

To use the example which i did in this post intially would any of us open a pizza shop and not spend money on advertising? I doubt it, but if we didn't we certainly would not last very long.

A lot of people on here talk about Google and 'getting on the front page' but how effective is that really?
Sure you can find yourself on the front page if you type in your own article heading but even that dosen't last very long. How many distributors on herbalife alone try to get on the frontpage with a health product never mind all the rest of the mlm and health companies.

In fact I often even have trouble finding Betternetworker online so I think that attracting people to intially visit and stay with your blog is not a task that we should think could only be fulfilled through the internet.

Hence the reason for my question regarding the amount of money spent and the efforts that can be applied offline as well as online. If we are going to put our faith into email lists then it costs money to build them and at what point does an email list start tp pay for itself? I am an affiliate for a blog that is sent out twice monthly but I know that it takes the blog creator the whole two weeks to create each blog. That is a full time job....and he still has over 300 affiliates to pay for promoting it?

So bottom line:
how much would be a reasonable amount to spend/invest each month in an mlm just for the first six months before a person reachs a breakeven or profit making level? and which avenues of approach are the most rewarding in your opinion?

thats it, regards Jim T.

[Mario Sanders Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 6]

The results you gave would not be a good return on my investment.
Spending $4,000 on a business venture and only gaining $1,000 in profit is not a good percentage point.
We are building a business on a budget and funds are limited to what we can afford to spend to start out on.
Spending $100 to get one in sales is still not a good ROI. That would cost more than your profit. Even spending $1,000 to get 10 in sales is still not a good return on investment. Basically, you are spending more in advertising than making the profit to cover the expenses.
I must say that while on the other hand, quitting is not an option. We still have to find ways to optimize our profits and reduce our expenses to clear any reasonable profit. Our profits must be over our expenses to realize any real net profit.

[Roger Aburto Company: Talk Fusion Global Contribution Level: 3]

Hi you all!

Geezz...100% ROI is excellent!

I wish I could do that.

People that bought gold two years ago a $750.00 an ounce...waited two years to have 100% ROI...two long years to double the investment...the ounce is $1600.00 now.

If I were this gentleman what I would do is piramid the money invested...meaning that I would devote the ten % of the profit to increase the ROI...in such a way...the next month I will invest $4500.00 every week...and the consecutive month I would add another 10% meaning that the second month from now I would investing $5000.00 every week...and maybe in one year I can barely talk to all of you directly.

Jim now a days you do not need to much money to develop your MLM carreer...you can use Facebook either organic or paying for the ads.I would say you can start investing 1k a month.

If you are in the pills and juices industry...you need to be the purple caw...other wise finding you is like find a needle in haystack. In this kind of verticals is a drop of blood for each lead...or have the kind of team that Budd and other marketers posses.OORR recruit your first associates belly to belly...what some use to say "The Old School"...for me there is no old or new...for me is like a Harleyy Davison...both tires the one at front and the one at the back are very important...the motor is going to be your opportunity and the tools and systems you can use to develop your carreer...and of course the guy BORN TO BE WILD the hero that ride the bike is YOU.

Be well,

Roger Aburto
P.S. My bike is kinda of in the shop right now...but The hero BORN TO BE WILD that would be me Never ever quit...so my friend see you on the road.
P.P.S. I will go shopping the black jacked...and the black leather pants...and the bandana.

[Andrea Thornton Company: Global Domains International, Inc Contribution Level: 2]

If you are still breathing, you are NOT a failure.

I have not spent (or made) thousands of dollars in marketing, but I *do* have two children and I can tell you neither of them learned to walk without falling down.

What ever has not worked in the past is *over* - focus on now.

Andrea