I am a housewife. I love spending time with my family and being an active part of the community. However, he missed the interaction that comes with a job and, of course, the extra income. Every time I considered rejoining the workforce and my husband and I were comfortable with the idea of doing so, inevitably one of our children would get sick at school and I would be home for two days with them. I thought, ‘How could I do this if I had a part-time job?’ That’s when I heard about the opportunity to work from home as an independent utility broker.
At first, I was a bit skeptical of a direct marketing career (I had never been in one), but the more I learned about this particular opportunity, the more I saw the value and need for it in the marketplace. What I like about him is:
1) I didn’t have to buy an initial inventory of products and convince my family and friends to throw a party and then convince their friends to do the same. It’s not that this type of direct marketing opportunity is inherently bad, it just doesn’t fit my personality or desires.
2) My ‘product’ is actually educating people and helping them SAVE money on a product they buy every day. It is not a discretionary expense. Nobody says: ‘I’m going to reduce consumption today, so I’m not going to use natural gas.’
3) Many of the plans offer customers flexibility by not requiring enrollment fees, long-term contracts, or cancellation fees. Too many people feel handcuffed by their utility providers with contracts and penalties. Our programs free people from these handcuffs.
4) The concept of allowing individuals and businesses to harness the buying power of our group for attractive rates made perfect sense to me and comforted me with its long-term potential. When I meet with clients, I see the value our services provide and they thank me for it. It’s a good feeling! It is also one where they willingly recommend me to their friends and family.
5) Even though my product is meant to save people money, sometimes potential customers have pretty attractive rates that I can’t do. That’s fine too. The potential customer knows that he is getting a fair deal from his current supplier and is also happy that I am not trying to force my product on them to ‘close a sale’. In these cases, we walk away knowing that we will speak again in the future to review this opportunity.
6) It allows me the flexibility to work from home and earn an income. Make no mistake, this is not a get-rich-quick opportunity or work very little, sit back and make a lot of money. It is what it is, an opportunity to make money acquiring customers and building a sales team and my income will be proportional to my efforts in both areas, but I’m comfortable with that. If I wanted a chance to win millions with little or no effort, I would buy a lottery ticket.
What I also learned is that staying focused on the mission and setting goals is critically important to success. Every day, I set goals for how many people I want to talk to and which clients I want to follow up with to make sure they are happy with our services. Since I’m running a home business, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone, especially on days when things aren’t going as smoothly as planned. Reviewing my mission and reviewing my daily goals helps me stay on task and keeps me motivated.
I also learned that people are constantly bombarded with marketing and some clearly have a disdain for anything that is directly marketed or part of an MLM business model. I’ve had the acquaintance with the nervous smile deflected from me when I asked about his natural gas bill or the family member who acted like he had a third eye when I told them what he was doing. I can’t convince people to feel differently and I don’t have the time or the desire to put the energy into trying to change their minds. I just keep going. I will save other people money and introduce this business to others who, like me, see its potential. You must do the same.
In short, I wanted to share my story in hopes that it will reassure you that you are not alone in pursuing your dreams through a direct marketing opportunity. He’s also not alone in having occasional feelings of self-doubt and frustration; it is life after all. However, I think it’s a great opportunity for me personally and I hope you too will do well in any direct marketing opportunity you decide to pursue.