THE BUSINESS OF THE 21st CENTURY

Robert T  Kiyosaki is my mentor in business.He has written a book pertaining THE BUSINESS OF THE 21st CENTURY.He says the richest people look and build networks and find ways to help others become rich.He recommends network Marketing as the business of the 21st  century.This is how he defines it....

So What Exactly Is Network Marketing?
 I said that I’ve never actually been involved in network marketing as a participant, but I know someone who has, and I invited him to join me in these pages to share some of his insights. 
My friend John Fleming started out in life as an architect (he once worked for the legendary Mies van der Rohe), and that’s one of the reasons I admire his approach to network marketing: He brings that same passion for practical design and functional construction to this business. He’s a man, in other words, who appreciates the value of building structures that last. John brings to these pages his nearly forty years of experience in network marketing. He has owned and operated his own company and has held many different executive positions in others, including a fifteen-year tenure at one of the industry’s largest and most well-respected companies as a regional vice president and then vice president of sales strategy, training, and development. He has also been actively involved in the industry’s various trade groups; in 1997 the Direct Selling Education Foundation awarded John with its highest honor, their Circle of Honor Award. Today, John serves as publisher and editor in chief of Direct Selling News, a respected trade publication serving direct selling and network marketing executives.
 Robert: John, for those readers who may not already know, what exactly is network marketing, and what makes it tick?
John: Network marketing has been around in various forms since the middle of the last century. The basic idea is as simple as it is brilliant: Instead of spending tons of money on all sorts of professional agencies and marketing channels to promote products or services, why not pay the people who love them most to just tell others about them? That’s exactly what a network marketing company does: They pay a portion of every sales dollar received back out to their field of independent representatives, who typically are also the products’ most committed and enthusiastic consumers. Robert: Let me play devil’s advocate for a moment. How can that really work? I mean, can a bunch of ordinary people who are not skilled marketers really compete and generate any serious level of sales?
 John: Actually, that’s the beauty of it. As every marketing professional, Hollywood producer, and corporate giant knows, the single most powerful form of promotion in the world is personal word-of-mouth. That’s why television commercials spend millions to hire actors to talk just like your mom, your spouse, your best friend, or your kids: They are imitating personal word-of-mouth. In network marketing, we use the real thing. The real power of the model—what you talk about, Robert, as leverage—is that as a representative, you aren’t paid commissions only on products used by the people you refer to the company, but often on products bought by the people they refer, directly and indirectly, that can really add up. So, does it work? You know the answer to that one: Direct selling/network marketing today does well over $110 billion in annual sales globally, which makes it an economic bloc roughly the size of New Zealand, Pakistan, or the Philippines. (I often describe this business model with both the terms “direct selling” and “network marketing” because today, most direct selling companies employ a network marketing focus. However, for the purposes of this book, I will just use “network marketing” in my references.) One reason that the total sales from network marketing keeps growing is that it’s a true win-win. The company gets an amazing level of market penetration and customer awareness that would be very tough and very expensive to get with traditional marketing. And the independent rep has the opportunity to create some very serious cash flow. How? By harnessing the power of word-of-mouth—person-to-person relationships—to build a substantial network that represents the company’s line of products and/or services. Robert, you talk about a B quadrant business being one that has at least 500 employees. In network marketing, you don’t hire employees, you sponsor The Business of the 21st Century 37 individuals who are all independent representatives. But the same financial dynamic applies: By the time your network of independent representatives grows to be 300, 400, or 500 strong, you’ve got a serious organization that delivers significant residual income.